By Ronan Dolan ‘20

Coming off a tough loss against Loyola the week before, the Brother Rice Crusaders needed to redeem themselves with a win on their homecoming against the St. Laurence Vikings.

The 4-2 Crusaders started the night kicking off to Lawrence and the standoff began with a back and forth fighting for a scoreless first quarter.

It was not until the first few minutes of the second quarter in which the Vikings put seven up on the scoreboard.

The Crusader offense responded with a drive down the field and freshman kicker, Jack Welniak, lined up at the 18 yard line and made the field goal as time ran out in the second quarter.

Starting off the second half, senior Mario Brown returned the kick to the Crusader 21 yard line, setting the Crusaders up to score.

The Crusaders couldn’t finish and the Vikings started off the second half with a goal line stand.

The Crusader defense successfully held back the Vikings, establishing a good base for the junior Willie Shaw to score, leaving the score at 10-3.

The rest of the night was disorderly for the Crusaders as the Vikings put up two more touchdowns on the night, leaving the final score at 10-21.

Senior Jack O’Leary said, “The team did not have the proper mindset needed to compete for the whole game and we were giving in when we still had life.”

Speaking from the fan section, senior TJ Murphy said, “w\We started strong but we weren’t able to pull through with the points and we lost all momentum.”

The Crusaders will be traveling to Mundelein, Illinois, to face off against the Corsairs of Carmel Mundelein for a chance to remain contenders in the playoffs.