Sitting at 1-3 after three straight one-score losses on Sept. 20, Brother Rice was in a tough spot.
But a stingy defense has helped the Crusaders turn their season around and become playoff-eligible.
Rice’s fourth straight win came in Week 8, a 35-6 victory over host St. Laurence in a CCL/ESCC crossover. During the winning streak, the Crusaders have allowed just 26 points.
Rice didn’t allow St. Laurence to earn a first down until the fourth quarter while holding the Vikings to under 50 yards of total offense, according to Crusaders coach Casey Quedenfeld.
“Our defense was pretty outstanding,” he said. “They played hard. The No. 1 thing is they continue to get better; they’re getting older and more experienced.
“We’ve started a sophomore — and he’s still there — and juniors at linebacker, cornerback, safety and defensive tackle. Stuff takes time with inexperienced players. The most important thing is communication, and that takes time. But we continue to get better, play faster and more confidently.
“We hope to continue what we did (in Week 8) because we hope to keep playing.”
Brother Rice opened the scoring at 8:48 of the first quarter when CJ Gray found Jimmie Maxson with a 20-yard touchdown pass. Gray finished 8-of-12 passing for 105 yards.
Tyler Lofton, who rushed for 80 yards, scored on a 2-yard run with 3:04 left in the second quarter, making it 14-0 Crusaders.
“Tyler is growing within the offense,” Quedenfeld said. “There were two big challenges for Tyler when he came from his last school. He had to learn how different the programs and the offenses are and that he doesn’t have to be everything in our offense and the backfield.
“He’s physical on the field now, and before, he was trying to play the way he played before he came to Brother Rice. He’s become more of a running back, more of a bruiser, and less finesse. He’s doing a good job of trusting what we teach him and being physical when it matters most.”
The Vikings (6-2) scored their only touchdown with 18 seconds left in the first half when Ayden Ginn returned an interception 90 yards.
In the third quarter, Rice picked up a pair of touchdowns within a 12-second span. After Gray’s 1-yard run made it 21-6 at the 6:27 mark, senior defensive lineman Charlie Stec picked off a pass and returned it 15 yards for a 28-6 lead with 6:15 left in the quarter.
The final points of the game came on Conner Stack’s 2-yard touchdown run with 6:58 left in the fourth quarter.
“We told the kids that we’re proud of them because they overcame three really emotional defeats that were seven points each (to Marist, St. Rita and Loyola),” Quedenfeld said. “At the same time, we’re getting better, but we still point out that we have not played our best game.
“Our best football should be in front of us. We’re glad we have another week. We’ll see what happens and go from there.”