The Jesuit Ranger Varsity football squad played against a hard-nosed Lake Highland Wildcat team this past Friday night. Jesuit kept the ball rolling with their third district win in a row, winning the game by a final score of 48-20. The Rangers have finally broken .500 and are now sitting 4-3, second in the district and tied only with JJ Pearce. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of the game.
The Rangers came out against the Lake Highlands Wildcats with the mindset that the game was one of the biggest games of the year and was indeed a must-win. The Rangers were able to seize the win not only because of their high octane offense but also on behalf of the defense, which stepped up and played their best football of the season.
The first quarter started out strong, with the Rangers receiving the ball and driving all the way down the field for an Orion Salters 3 yard touchdown run. The point after was missed due to a poor snap, thus making the score 6-0 early in the first quarter.
The defense was then called upon to try to stop the lightning fast speed of Lake Highlands. On the very first Lake Highlands offensive play, quarterback Brock Jones stepped back and threw a deep ball down the middle of the field to his receiver, who was running a post route. The ball hung in the air and Jesuit junior cornerback Josh Cummings ’15 stepped in front of the ball, intercepted it, and returned it deep inside Lake Highland’s territory.
Once again the offense, led by quarterback Bo Schneider ’15, drove the ball down to the Lake Highlands 1 yard line. Orion Salters then took a handoff from Schneider and put the ball in the endzone, thus making the score 12-0. Rather than kick the extra point, the Ranger’s went for a 2-point conversion. Bo Schneider ’15 took the snap for the 2-point conversion, checked his options, but didn’t find anyone open. Looking like the University of Oklahoma’s Blake “the Belldozer” Bell, Schneider rumbled into the endzone to make the score an even 14-0 game midway through the first quarter. The Wildcats didn’t go away quietly though, responding with a steady drive resulting in a 42 yard touchdown run by Jamarice Preston, thus narrowing the margin to 14-7.
The Wildcats kicked off to the Rangers, and once again the offense put together an impressive drive. This time Bo Schneider connected with Orion Salters for a 38 yard touchdown reception.
Salters commented about the game, his first action since hurting his shoulder in the Skyline game two weeks earlier, saying, “It felt great to be back on the field
playing again especially with all my teammates. I know that I’ve had some injury problems this year so being back felt good.” His presence was truly missed out on the field during his injury hiatus, and it was great to have him back. Watch out for special things to come from him when he continues his career at Iowa State next year.
At this point in the game, the first quarter was still not finished. The Ranger’s again kicked off to the Wildcats with the score 21-6. However, the Wildcats struck quick with an impressive 65 yard run by quarterback Brock Jones and a successful 2-point conversion, which made the game 21-14 going into the second quarter.
The second quarter and frankly the rest of the game were all about the Rangers and their ability to get the job done. The scoring of the second quarter included two touchdowns for the Rangers, one off a 4 yard run by Matt Slovack ’15 and the other off a 1 yard run by sophomore Max Loughborough ’16. Loughborough had himself another break out game, leading the Rangers in rushing with 124 yards on the night. The Wildcats could do nothing against the Jesuit defense until the final minute of the second quarter, which had the Wildcats deep inside Jesuit territory threatening to score just before halftime. After a tough stand, the Rangers forced Lake Highlands to kick a field goal, but the Lake Highlands long snapper the kicker was forced to run due to a poor snap and was tackled in the backfield for a loss and no points for Lake Highlands. However, there was a penalty on the play, a facemask against the Rangers, so the Wildcats were inside Jesuit’s 10 yard line with less than 10 seconds to play in the half. On first down, Brock Jones lofted a ball into the back part of the endzone only to be intercepted by Josh Cummings once again. And just like that, the Rangers were going into half time with a 35-14 lead and the momentum in their favor.
At halftime, the coaches preached about finishing, and that’s exactly what the Rangers did. The Wildcats received the ball after halftime, only to be stopped by the Ranger defense, which played its best game all year. The defense stopped the Wildcats on 6 consecutive drives in the second half, with the only points scored by Lake Highlands coming against the second team in garbage time in the 4th quarter. There was no scoring in the third quarter, so going into the fourth the score was the 35-14 in favor of the Rangers.
The fourth quarter included two more scores for the Rangers, both by junior running back Matt Slovak ’15. Slovak had a 10 yard touchdown run and a 1 yard touchdown run. The kick failed after Slovak’s last touchdown, thus making the score 48-14. With less than 5 minutes left in the game, the second team of the Rangers for both offense and defense got some playing time. It was a rare occasion where guys who normally stand on the sideline got the opportunity to play. The second defense let up one score coming off a 13 yard run by Tyrone Palm, thus making the final score 48-20.
The Rangers are on a fantastic run right now and I would highly advise that you to go out and support them as they make a push for the playoffs. They play against a good JJ Pearce team this week for homecoming, so go out and support your Rangers!
