Immaculate Conception 21, St. Edward 20
The decision was easy.
The result was an historic loss.
St. Edward's 2-point conversion attempt late in the fourth quarter Friday night was stuffed as Immaculate Conception handed the Green Wave their school-record 24th consecutive loss with a 21-20 victory in Elgin.
"We felt like we could win the game," St. Edward senior Matt Ardiente said. "It was a decision as a team. We just went for it. We believed we could get it but came up short."
The Green Wave (0-4, 0-2 Suburban Catholic) scored with 1:40 remaining in the fourth quarter on Ardiente's 35-yard run around right end. St. Edward called timeout and coach Mike Rolando said the decision was unanimous -- go for the victory.
Senior fullback Moises Quiroga took a toss right but was stood up by several Immaculate Conception defenders at the 2-yard line.
"The team, even after the game, said we had to try it. The coaches said we had to try it," Rolando said. "We wanted to go for the win."
"We knew they were going to go for it," Knights coach Bill Schmidt said. "Someone has to make a play or you're going to go home with a 'L.' We made one more play than they did."
The Knights (2-2, 1-1) recovered the onside kick and kneeled three times to leave with the victory despite only earning 6 first downs.
St. Edward has not won since Week 7 of the 2004 season, a 45-14 victory over Aurora Central Catholic.
The Green Wave defense kept them in Friday's game in the first half when neither team got anything going offensively. Each team had less than 80 yards of offense in the opening half. The only score came on a 10-yard run from IC quarterback Will Cronin with 39.3 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Jonathon Ellis, who finished with 102 yards rushing, gave the Knights a 14-0 lead three plays into the second half with a 59-yard touchdown run.
St. Edward responded with a 12-play, 80-yard drive, which was capped by a 13-yard run by Ardiente.
After an IC punt, the Green Wave tied the game on Ryan Gilbert's 2-yard score.
Paul Hornstra's 56-yard touchdown run on the next play from scrimmage gave the Knights the lead again, 21-14, with 10:29 left in fourth quarter.
The Green Wave got the ball on their 26-yard line with 3:50 remaining. On the seventh play of the drive, Ardiente broke free for his second touchdown of the game before the failed conversion attempt. Ardiente gained 92 yards, 85 in the second half.
"We opened it up a little bit," Rolando said about his team's offense that scored on 3 of its 4 second-half possessions. "(IC) was taking the inside stuff away. We had to figure out how to get the ball outside."