There were a lot of bowed heads in Marist’s post-game huddle after its Week 4 loss to Joliet Catholic.
A few of them were shaking, trying to comprehend a stunning reversal of fortune.
A few of them, unbowed, were looking skyward — perhaps for the answer to how the RedHawks could surrender a 10-point fourth-quarter to a Hilltoppers team they had held in check for three quarters.
Joliet Catholic came from behind twice, the first time tying the game on the final play of regulation, and then again in the extra sessions to score a 31-30 double-overtime victory.
The win knocked Marist from the ranks of the unbeaten and both teams’ first CCL/ESCC Orange contest of the season.
“This is a test,” Marist coach Mike Fitzgerald told his charges in the post-game huddle. “This is a test.”
Marist (3-1, 0-1 CCL/ESCC Orange) and Fitzgerald searched for an answer beyond the usual platitudes.
“We’ve got high-character kids,” Fitzgerald said. “They’re not going to blink to adversity. They’re going to bounce back.”
There was plenty of offense for the RedHawks, beginning with John McAuliffe’s 138 total yards on 15 carries and two receptions, including Marist’s first overtime score. Quarterback Jake Ritter threw for 127 yards and ran for 115 more.
But four Marist drives stalled in JCA territory.
“We left a lot of points out there, too,” Fitzgerald said.
Marist jumped ahead on the strength of a pair of big plays, the first a 30-yard touchdown pass from Jake Ritter to Stephen Brown on fourth-and-17 barely three minutes into the game.
On Marist’s first offensive play of the second half, McAuliffe broke through a big hole and ran 92 yards to make it 14-7. A Brendan Curran field goal to cap a 12-play drive in the final minute of the third quarter had Marist seemingly in control with a 17-7 lead.
With the exception of Hilltoppers running back Larry Stringham, who finished with 22 carries for 203 yards and two touchdowns, Marist had not allowed much to the host’s offense.
But a high school game can turn on one play, and this one did.
Twice.
First, Hilltoppers quarterback Lucas Simulick kept a drive alive with a 12-yard completion to Keegan Farnaus on third-and-7. That 13-play march ended with a 1-yard Farnaus plunge, cutting Marist’s lead to 17-14 with 6:50 remaining.
Second, Brown — who caught 109 yards of Ritter passes — coughed up the ball after his seventh reception of the game. The Hilltoppers’ Nick Bueno fell on the ball, and what would have been a RedHawks’ first down at roughly the JCA 15-yard was instead the Hilltoppers’ ball with 5:38 to play.
Joliet Catholic then went on a 16-play drive that — after an apparent game-winning touchdown pass was wiped out by a penalty — ended with kicker Vinny DiNovo hitting a 27-yard game-tying field goal as time expired.
“We were moving the ball real well but not getting points,” Fitzgerald said. “You give them opportunities, they capitalize.”
The teams matched touchdowns in the first overtime and Marist took a 30-24 lead in the second session when Ritter scored from the 2, but Curran’s point-after attempt hit the left upright, leaving the RedHawks with a six-point advantage.
The Hilltoppers countered on the first play of their ensuing possession with a Stringham 10-yard TD run, and DiNovo’s subsequent kick provided the winning point.
The RedHawks visit IC Catholic in Elmhurst on Friday, Sept. 27, then host Providence in their next Orange matchup on Oct. 4.