Second-half defensive effort gets QND football team back on track with victory over Mater Dei

QUINCY — Quincy Notre Dame senior Wilson Henning has sensed a trend so far this season.

“We’ve played well in the first half, but in the second half, we are just gassed out,” the Raiders offensive lineman said.

Friday night’s rivalry game with Breese Mater Dei looked as if it might go down the same path. A Mater Dei touchdown in the waning moments of the first half cut the Raiders’ lead to seven points at halftime. However, QND returned two interceptions for touchdowns in the second half, while Henning and his friends up front won the trench battle for QND in a 35-14 victory at Advance Physical Field.

The victory pushed QND to 3-2 on the season, a key victory in the Raiders’ drive for the five wins necessary to be in playoff contention.

The Raiders led 21-7 late in the first half and looked to have turned away the Knights (2-3) when Charlie Lavery beautifully broke up a pass intended for Mater Dei’s Elliot Rakers at the goal line. However, a pass interference call was whistled on the play. Four plays later, the Knights pushed the ball into the end zone on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Chase Jansen to Drake Rensing with 17 seconds left to play.

With Mater Dei receiving the second half kickoff, the onus was on the QND defense to make sure the Knights didn’t double up on scores. The Raiders forced a three-and-out on Mater Dei’s first second-half possession. 

QND’s defensive line put pressure on Jansen, a sophomore who is new to the starting QB role, all night. 

“We knew with a young sophomore quarterback that we needed to get at his feet and get him on the ropes with pressure,” senior Brock Wiley said.

Wiley and the rest of the Raiders’ front made things miserable for Jansen for much of the night. He completed just 13 of 30 passes and intercepted him four times.

“We talk to our guys about how the quarterback needs to have clean feet and we have to move off of his platform and make reads and be less accurate with the football,” QND coach Jack Cornell said. “We want to disrupt his timing and his technique, and I think our guys did a great job of that tonight.”

Senior defensive lineman Connor McDowell picked off a Jansen pass midway through the third quarter. The Raiders nearly turned that into a score, but the Knights turned QND away near the goal line. 

QND junior Wyatt Mueller picked off the first pass attempt by Jansen on Mater Dei’s next drive and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown and a 28-14 QND cushion with 3:37 left in the third quarter.

Mater Dei’s next drive also turned into another touchdown when a pressured Jansen threw a ball deep down field that QND senior Dalton Miller picked off and returned 75 yards for a touchdown and a 35-14 lead with less than two minutes left in the third quarter.

“We had probably one of the best game plans we’ve had all year,” Miller said. “Our up front pressure is how we won the game. Our defensive line getting pressure makes the job of the linebackers easy.”

From there it was up to the QND offense to grind out the win. The Raiders rolled up 266 yards on the ground. All three of the Raiders’ first-half touchdowns came via the ground game. Miller bullied his way into the end zone from 2 yards out with 2:23 to play. Seconds later, the Raiders grabbed an 8-7 lead when Lavery, the team’s holder on kicks, picked up an errant snap and tossed the ball to Gabe Terstriep for an 8-7 lead.

Jackson Stratton scored two second-quarter touchdowns. The first one came from 45 yards out as he used a stiff arm to keep a would-be Mater Dei tackler at bay for the final 10 yards of the run. He also scored on a 4-yard run later in the quarter.

The Raiders’ opening day starter at quarterback, Stratton said his position now is “athlete.”

“Whatever they want me to play,” said Stratton, who finished with 108 rushing yards on just 12 carries. “I’m here to win. That’s the No. 1 priority.”

QND limited Mater Dei to 22 total yards, including just 69 on the ground. 

McDowell credited the practices QND held after having to take a forfeit last week when Hayti failed to make the trip to Quincy.

“The intensity was unbelievable,” McDowell said.

With four games left, QND needs to find two wins to be playoff eligible. 

“It was great for us to get our feet back up underneath us,” Cornell said of the surprise bye week. “Our guys were obviously frustrated with not playing. Breese week started early for us. They understood the challenge of playing Breese Mater Dei and what comes with that.”

The Raiders return to the road next week when they have Mahomet-Seymour. The Bulldogs, ranked No. 3 in the latest Class 5A state poll, improved to 5-0 Friday with a 55-14 victory over Charleston.