Not every halftime speech works as well as the one St. Rita’s coaches delivered on Nov. 16.
Tied at 14 at the break, the Mustangs outscored the visiting Blue Devils 35-0 in the second half for a 49-14 Class 7A quarterfinal win.
St. Rita (10-2) will host Mount Carmel (9-3) in Saturday’s state semifinals at 3 pm. Quincy finishes 11-1.
The Caravan blanked St. Rita 28-0 in Week 2 of the regular season.
“The coaches got us fired up at halftime,” St. Rita running back Nick Herman said. “The seniors didn’t want to play their last game and we came out in the second half and took care of business.”
Did they ever.
The Mustangs covered 70 yards in eight plays for their first score of the second half. Herman (16 carries, 171 yards) scored his first TD of the game on an 18-yard run.
After a Blue Devils punt pinned St. Rita back on its own 2 and a subsequent 6-yard gain by Herman, the senior responded with a 92-yard scoring sprint down the right sideline, making it 28-14 Mustangs with 7:16 to play in the third quarter.
“I knew we were pinned back there,” Herman said. “On the play before when I gained 6 yards, I thought I could have broken that play.
“But I broke this one and turned the jets on and took off from there. I love running, I love playing with this team, I love juking people. I want to put my foot in the ground and go.”
On St. Rita’s next possession, Quincy’s Jeraius Rice Jr. fumbled a punt at his own 1 with the Mustangs’ Langston Smith recovering. That led to a 1-yard TD run on a quarterback sneak by Steven Armbruster (nine carries, 68 yards) and a 35-14 margin.
St. Rita scored once more with one second left in the third. Justin Buckner picked off a pass from Quincy quarterback Bradyn Little (27 of 54 passing, 266 yards) and sprinted 43 yards for a touchdown and a 42-14 advantage.
“We were in Cover-2 and I saw the guy come into the flat,” Buckner said. “I didn’t have the flat, but I had to get the ball, outrun their quarterback and running back and score the touchdown.”
Brandon Johnson Jr. (four carries, 79 yards) scored on a 58-yard run with 8:31 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Jacob Fleming recovered a fumble for the Mustangs while James Kingsbury added an interception.
“This is a great win for our program,” St. Rita coach Martin Hopkins said. “Our goal is to be a state champion and to continue on that path, we’re excited about that. We tell the kids that’s why they came to St. Rita is to play for state championships and win it all.”
The Blue Devils took a 7-0 lead at 7:32 of the first quarter as Rice (20 carries, 112 yards) scored on a 24-yard run around the left side.
The Mustangs tied the game at 7-all as a scrambling Armbruster (15 of 22 passing, 135 yards) found Donovan Evans (7 catches, 82 yards) in the end zone for a 39-yard TD pass.
Quincy responded as Rice Jr.’s 3-yard TD run made it 14-7 with 26 seconds to play in the first quarter.
Buckner pulled the Mustangs into a 14-all tie with a 5-yard TD run as the Wildcat quarterback at 3:00 of the second quarter.