By Mark Gregory
@Hear_The_Beard
Ty Gavin
After Notre Dame dropped its opener to Benet, the Dons knew they had to get things going in the tough ESCC.
That was exactly what they did.
The Dons defeated Nazareth in week 3 and 3-1 on the season with a 35-17 win over Joliet Catholic Academy in Joliet.
“It means a lot for the kids to come down here and win,” Notre Dame coach Mike Hennessey said. “It’s a helluva long ride. We were worried after that first quarter because we went three plays then we didn’t get back on the field. Joliet is Joliet and I don’t care what is going on. [JCA coach] Dan [Sharp] does a great job. But, we were able to then do some things and get a couple of easy touchdowns and that expands what you want to do and makes everything better.”
After the Hilltoppers took a 3-0 lead, Notre Dame’s Ty Gavin’s took over.
Gavin broke a 34-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter gave the Dons a 7-3 lead.
Later in the quarter, he scored the second of his three scores – the first of two on fourth down – to put Notre Dame up 14-3.
The Hilltoppers (0-4) got within 14-10 on the final play of the half when Pat Roth hit Rio Strama with a 17-yard score on fourth-and-16.
Any momentum JCA had was erased on the first series out of the break, when Gavin took a fourth-and-one play 63 yards for the score.
“It was senior night for them and we knew we had to come out and score or they were going to hang around the whole game,” Gavin said. “We talked at halftime about getting that score and we did.”
Gavin said the credit can’t all go to him.
“It was my offensive line,” Gavin said. “There are a lot of kids that could have run through those holes. A lot of them I barely got touched, so I put that on the offensive line.”
The final nail in the coffin came when Michael Valdez intercepted Roth and returned it 83 yards through traffic for the score.
“That was great,” Hennessy said. “When you get a long run like that, it means all the difference in the world. The kid never dies. He is one of our captains and he is one of the most influential kids on our team.”
The task doesn’t get easier for Notre Dame as it hosts another good ESCC foe in St. Patrick this week.
“We are able to do some good things so far,” Hennessy said. “The good and the bad about our conference is that every week you are in for a battle and sometimes you don’t want that, but it’s what it is and sometimes it really tests you for what you are about. We had a tough time in the Benet game when we turned the ball over too much and then we came out and beat a helluva Nazareth team and then coming here and beating [JCA] on their field is a pretty good feat for us.”
The players know the tough run they have in the league and how impressive the two wins in a row are.
“It is huge. We knew we would have a dog fight for two straight weeks and that we had to bounce back from Benet and this is unbelievable,” Gavin said. “Our seniors keep leading us and motivating us. I love this team and we are never out of it.”