Painful night puts Lions in tough spot

This was not what St. Viator envisioned.

There were painful injuries Friday night to Eric Huber and C.J. Cesario, two of the Lions' top football players and team captains.

And there was the sting of a second straight loss -- this one 28-14 to Marian Catholic at Forest View -- that dropped the Lions to 3-2 with a rugged road still ahead.

"We're going to have to (rebound) if we plan on making any kind of run," said offensive lineman-linebacker and captain Matt O'Malley, "which we definitely do.

"(Emmett) Cleary said in the huddle, Marian Catholic wasn't our goal. We have to keep our final goals in mind and move forward."

After last week's big step back at Benet, Viator started making forward progress when Mike Landuyt went 34 yards with a shovel pass from Huber to end the first quarter with a 7-0 lead.

"We had a good week of practice and we came out here ready to play," said Lions center Ryan Fedyna.

But the Lions weren't ready for Huber's night to be over with a shoulder injury. Six minutes later, Cesario, an all-East Suburban Catholic Conference defensive back, was done with a concussion.

So junior Dan Faerber was suddenly tossed into the fray at quarterback. And he handled himself well as he went 7-for-21 for 102 yards but also had at least 4 passes broken up by perfect Marian Catholic defense.

"He did a great job, but it's just an experience thing," O'Malley said.

"Faerber stepped up and played a heck of a game," Fedyna said. "It just didn't work out."

It looked as if it might when Faerber hit Matt Janus for 30 yards and Mike Landuyt raced 40 yards to get the Lions within 20-14.

But a swing pass turned into a 40-yard score with 6:52 left and all but ended the Lions' hopes on this night.

"I missed a couple of tackles on key plays," O'Malley said, "and I take a lot of responsibility for that last touchdown."

But as O'Malley said, it's now time to look forward with 3-1 Notre Dame next. Carmel and an improved Nazareth team are also waiting the final four weeks.

Any hopes of the defending East Suburban Catholic Conference co-champions repeating are gone with Joliet Catholic steamrolling everyone it's faced.

But a school-record fourth straight playoff trip is still a distinct possibility.

"We'll find out, won't we?" Viator coach Chris Kirkpatrick said of how his team would respond.

"We've talked about this all season that it's the same adversity as last year," Fedyna said. "It's a great group of guys and we all work hard."

The Lions hope it will help get them where they want to be a month from now.