Jesuit Survives a Rainy Washout against Irving MacArthur

As the rain poured and the lightning lit up the late, October night sky, many Ranger fans wondered if their last home matchup of the season and homecoming against Irving Mac would be canceled. The forecast foretold an unavoidable percentage of rain. After numerous lightning delays and inches of heavy rain, the start time of 8:15 was decided. As the Rangers ran onto the field, they were met with a sparse homecoming crowd, with a dedicated student section of maybe fifty students, all glad with panchos, yelling enthusiastically. 

“I was cold and wet. The rain was bone-chilling but I still had fun! – Mathis Valenta ’26

Stats:

Offensively, this wasn’t the typical game plan for the Rangers. With the heavy downpour, both teams had to keep the ball on the ground. Charlie Schmidt ’23 was 17/23 for 112 yards and 2 TDs. Cameron Martin ’23 led the way on the ground with 8.8 yards per carry (5 carries for 44 yards), along with Schmit, who ran for 96 yards on 20 carries, and Jake Musso ’23 had 3 carries for 15 yards. Martin also tacked on 2 catches for 19 yards and a TD. Matty Wagner caught 3 passes for 27 yards and a TD. Sophomore Jeager Krauss ’25 was the leading receiver and caught 3 passes for 30 yards. 

Defensively, Grayson Wombacher ’24, once again, led the defense with 10 tackles plus a TFL and a forced fumble. Grant Peters had a particularly great game, with 6 tackles, a QB hurry, a breakup, and a game-sealing interception in the end zone. He was also mentioned in this week’s article in the Dallas Morning News. Adam Kelly also had 6 tackles. Will Hanrahan and Chris Simington also tacked on 5 tackles each. 

On special teams, this week, Charlie Schmidt ’23 averaged 52 yards a punt with a long of 68 yards. Tristen Bird ’24 blocked a field goal early in the first quarter. Noah McGough ’25 made a 25-yard field goal and nailed his only extra-point opportunity. 

Play by Play:

1st Half

MacArthur received the ball first. They put together a nice opening drive of 5 plays for 48 yards. Then they attempted a 35-yard field goal that was blocked by Tristen Bird. Both teams’ offenses were deadlocked and forced to punt or turned it over until midway through the 2nd quarter. But then the scoring drought ended when MacArthur finished a 53-yard drive with a 19-yard, perfect pass for a touchdown, putting the Cardinals up 0-6. The Jesuit defense responded by stuffing the extra point. The Rangers offense responded with a 9-play, 85-yard drive that was capped off by a 20-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Martin and McGough knocking through the extra point. The rangers were up 7-6. While MacArthur was driving late in the first half, Grayson Wombacher ’24 forced a big fumble recovered by Will Hanrahan. This big turnover allowed the Ranger offense to get into McGough’s range. And as time expired in the first half, McGough kicked a 25-yard field goal to put the Rangers up 10-6 going into halftime.  

2nd Half

After an extremely short halftime, the offenses for both teams couldn’t seem to find the magic they had at the end of the half. After another long scoreless period, MacArthur finally scored on a 90-yard run up the gut, putting them up 10-12 late in the 3rd. Jesuit responded at the beginning of the 4th quarter with a 14-play, 64-yard drive capped off by a 3-yard touchdown pass to Matty Wagner, putting the Rangers 16-12. No one seemed to get anything going until Macauther drove down the field with less than a minute to go. With a couple of big plays, the Cardinals were down in the red zone treating to walk the game off. But with 13 seconds left to go, Grant Peters came up with a clutch interception in the endzone, securing the win for the Rangers! 

“When Grant intercepted that ball, I nearly threw my camera in the air!” – Jaxx Rigelsky ’24

Summary:

With this nail-biting victory, the Jesuit Rangers look now to the Richardson Eagles to finish out the regular season 8-2. The Jesuit Rangers play Friday, November 4th at Eagle-Mustang Stadium. Hope to see all Ranger fans in attendance.  

Stay tuned to the Roundup for more Jesuit Ranger football coverage!