Crete Monee Pummles Marian Catholic 30-7

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CHICAGO HEIGHTS | It wasn't exactly a textbook performance by a team ranked tops among Class 6A clubs, but Crete-Monee made big plays down the stretch for what matters most -- a win.

The Warriors shook off a slow start and put together three conseuctive scores late in the fourth quarter to pull away from host Marian Catholic for a 30-7 victory Friday night.

The win by the Times' second-ranked Warriors (2-0) required overcoming not only an upset-minded Spartan squad, but also overcoming 150-yards worth of penalties and three turnovers.

"The game is good because it wakes you up," said Warriors coach Jerry Verde, who played football on Marian Catholic's 1993 state championship team. "This effort was not good enough for the team we think we should be."

Warrior two-way player LaQuon Treadwell broke loose for 88 yards in catches, including a 41-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter that gave the Warriors a 14-0 lead. In addition to the touchdown catch, Treadwell also made two interceptions, kicked two extra points and caught a pass from Marcus Terrell for a two-point conversion.

"After the start, we knew we had to come out and make plays on both sides of the ball and fight back," Treadwell said.

The Warriors' ground game was led by DeShaun Smith, who rushed for 91 yards and one touchdown. Darius Thomas added a 29-yard score midway through the third quarter to put the Warriors ahead 21-7.

The Warriors also forced six Spartan turnovers, including a fumble that was returned by Warrior Nyles Morgan for a 78-yard, third-quarter touchdown and the first points of the game.

The play was mirrored later by a 21-yard fumble return for touchdown by Marian's Timonthy Mason early in the fourth quarter that cut the Warriors lead to 14-7. The Spartans (0-2) passed for 148 yards --- mainly behind the performance of starter Patrick Schmidt -- but they rushed for negative yards, due in part to three long losses on bad shotgun snaps. One of those losses resulted in a fourth-quarter safety.

"Our kids played very hard, but you hope to see progress here," Spartan coach Dave Mattio said. "Our defense played wonderfully tonight; offensively, we've got a long way to go."

The first half was a scoreless affair in which both teams had their opportunity to put points on the board.

The Spartans drove the ball to the Warrior 9-yard-line with their second possession of the game, but the drive was thwarted when on second-and-goal, a bad shotgun snap to Schmidt resulted in a 22-yard loss.

The Warriors had a first-and-goal from the Spartan 1 yard line off a drive set up by a Spartan turnover, but a pair of penalties, a shut down run by the interior of the Spartan defense and two stellar pass break ups by John Hotchkiss of passes intended for Treadwell kept the Warriors out of the end zone.

No. 2 Crete-Monee , Marian Catholic