St. Dominic Stays Unbeaten Behind Potent Running Game

For four weeks this season, St. Dominic had made no qualms about its run-first, run-second and run-third offense. So, when it finally ran into something it hadn't seen in 2011—a Kennedy defense that wouldn't get out of the way—it wasn't surprising to see the Crusaders' halftime adjustments: Run it even more.

Through the first half on Friday night, Kennedy held firm against a dominant Crusaders rushing attack, holding the squad to under 100 yards on the ground and not allowing a score until the end of the second quarter. St. Dominic tailback Grant Nickles had just 44 yards, and primary back Jake Wilmes, who entered Friday with a 5.5 yards-per-attempt average and seven touchdowns, spun his wheels without totaling 20 yards in two quarters.

“We had a lot of miscommunications in the first half, a few blocking mistakes here and there,” said Nickles, a senior. “At halftime, (Wilmes) and I basically got a hold of the line and got in their face. Told them they needed to step it up.

“We went back out there and I started using my arms, Wilmes started using his legs, and we started putting some shoulders into (Kennedy). It didn’t take long before we started looking like the same old team again.”

Indeed, Friday’s game played out as a tale of two halves for St. Dominic, which exploded out of halftime and ran right at the heart of the Kennedy defense. With a refocused attitude, St. Dominic rushed for over 150 yards in the second half and posted touchdowns in its first three second-half possessions. The 28-9 victory maintained the Crusaders’ undefeated season (5-0), while Kennedy fell to 2-3.

“I think we just finally started executing better,” St. Dominic coach Jim Cook said. “It looked like the O-line just came off the ball better in the second half, where I don’t think they were coming off the ball well at all in the first half. It wasn’t as if they were timid, it just seemed like they were just going through the motions.”

Miscues resulted in several missed scoring chances for both offenses in the first half, but Kennedy was the first to draw blood with Steven Proctor’s 23-yard field goal with 4:18 in the second quarter. St. Dominic answered back with its first fruitful drive of the half, capping with a two-yard Wilmes score.

Despite the halftime frustration, there was no hint at a plan to abandon the Crusaders’ bread and butter. St. Dominic did not attempt a single pass in the second half, choosing instead to pound Kennedy right up the middle through gaping holes created by center David Nuemann. Including a 15-yard run by third back Sean Corrigan, the offense needed just six runs to drive 51 yards to open the half, scoring with an 11-yard run by Nickles.

After a Kennedy three-and-out, St. Dominic came back again for a 55-yard drive, alternating between Nickles and Wilmes, who punched in his second score with 2:45 left in the third quarter. Quarterback Jacob Mennemeier capped another 49-yard drive with a one-yard sneak with 11:22 in the fourth quarter, setting the score 28-3.

Despite the game quickly running out of reach for the Celts, they did piece together two impressive drives to close the game. Running back Joe Lawrence rattled off a 26-yard run and tight end Proctor hauled in two receptions to bring the Celts to St. Dominic’s three-yard line. The offense was successful on several third downs and also converted on a fourth-and-two, though penalties and a sack by Ben Paige eventually eliminated the scoring chance.

After holding the Crusaders to a three-and-out, the Celts offense finished the game with a 67-yard drive and touchdown. Lawrence rushed to paydirt from 8 yards out with 8.8 seconds left, though Proctor’s extra-point attempt was blocked by John Fischer for the 28-9 final score.

“I thought we played very well at times against a team that was, quite frankly, bigger and stronger than us,” Kennedy coach Scott Long said. “(St. Dominic is) a good team, it was what we expected from them, and I think it was just more of them executing in the second half than anything we did.”