St. Charles West Hands St. Dominic First Loss of Season

Facing an unbeaten opponent in St. Dominic, the defense handcuffed the visiting Crusaders and allowed Marcus Taylor to help deliver the Warriors a crucial district win Friday at Steve Stahl Stadium.

Taylor, a junior running back in West's wishbone offense, used a 47-yard touchdown run to break a scoreless tie with 5 minutes, 10 seconds left in the third quarter. He added another rushing score late in the fourth to ice the game and lead the Warriors to a 21-0 win over visiting in a Class 4 District 8 contest.

"We all were very fired up and just ready to get to our next game," said Taylor, whose team rebounded from its first loss of the season - a 28-21 setback to Borgia - in its previous outing. "We told ourselves we have to beat (St. Dominic) if we want to get revenge on Borgia and I think we all showed that we were ready to play."

Taylor's first touchdown run was a wakeup call for the St. Dominic offense, which followed suit with a 14-play drive covering 58 yards.

But with the Crusaders facing fourth down at the St. Charles West 22-yard line, West senior Zach Mudd made the defensive play of the night. He sacked Crusaders quarterback Jacob Mennemeier on the opening play of the fourth quarter, thwarting St. Dominic's best offensive series of the game.

"It was a big turning point," St. Dominic coach Jim Cook said. "It took us out of what we do best. We were running the ball well and that's our forte, but that put us in a passing situation and that hurt us."

Junior Andrew Rizzello came through with another big defensive play for West by intercepting Mennemeier on St. Dominic's next drive, setting up Taylor's second rushing touchdown.

Taylor, who finished the night with 176 yards rushing on 18 carries, scored from 23 yards out with 3:46 to play, and senior Austin Rugraff capped the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown plunge in the final minute. Ryan McCrum converted all three West point-after attempts while Mudd led the way on defense with 12 total tackles.

"Our guys were so frustrated after last week because we felt like we didn't have our best showing," West coach Gary Strauss said. "We felt like we're a better team than what we showed (against Borgia). Tonight we played a little tight in the first half offensively and our defense kept us in the game. Second half, we put it on our offensive line and they took over and got us rolling."

Both teams enter the final week of the regular season at 8-1 overall and 1-1 in district play. Both will play at 7 p.m. Thursday, with West visiting Warrenton (1-8, 0-2) and St. Dominic hosting Borgia (9-0, 2-0).

"We just want to get in," Strauss said of having a possible playoff spot on the line next week. "Our guys want to keep the season going."