It won’t always be about Jack Sznajder this year at Benet.
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The junior quarterback threw five touchdown passes in the season-opening win over St. Laurence, but it was defense that got the Redwings rolling in Week 2.
An interception, a safety and a fumble recovery for a touchdown, all in the first quarter, helped propel Benet to a 41-3 victory Friday night over O’Fallon in the Redwings’ home opener at Benedictine University.
“I’m really happy about how we played out there,” senior defensive lineman Trenton Kramer said. “The defense got the ball rolling, and we didn’t stop, either.”
Benet went ahead 2-0 midway through the first quarter when Kramer, Pat O’Meara and Vince Jablonski led the penetration up the middle at O’Fallon’s 2-yard line to record a safety on a failed run.
“We were just fired up,” Kramer said. “Second game, we knew that we had to come out with the same fire we did last week. I really think we brought it. I felt like we really dominated on the D-line.”
Benet coach Pat New gave Kramer a little motivation earlier in the day.
“I was talking with him during class and said, ‘I need three tackles for a loss this week,’ ” New recalled. “After the safety, he came to the sideline and said, ‘That’s one.’ It was good.”
The defense came through again on O’Fallon’s next play from scrimmage after a Karl Schmidt punt put the Panthers on their 8.
Linebacker Ryan Liszka stripped the ball at the 5, and Alec McEachern picked up the fumble and took it in with 5:11 to play in the quarter.
“We definitely work on that in practice a lot,” Liszka said of knocking the ball loose. “Any time you can score on defense, that’s obviously a plus.”
“It was kind of a rough start offensively,” Sznajder said. “But once our defense started really nailing their offense, making big plays, we knew we were going to get on a roll. It was a real big start for our defense.”
Sznajder (9 of 23, 94 yards) flashed his running ability when he faked a draw and ran wide left from 43 yards out to give Benet a 16-0 lead early in the second quarter.
“I saw the defensive end crash, and I knew there’d be some space to run,” Sznajder said. “Karl Schmidt, our receiver, did a great job of giving me a block, giving me a hole to run through. Once I was there, I knew it was wide open.”
“We saw them during the week crashing their linebackers, so we gave him the option to pull it and run,” New said. “The call was a handoff, but he read the linebacker crashing. It was his read. He’s such a smart player.”
Ryley Guay kicked a 34-yard field goal with 2:34 left before halftime. Marty Dosen (18 carries, 91 yards) and Charlie Weidenbach each scored on 1-yard runs in the third quarter to build a 34-3 cushion.
Benet (2-0) opens its East Suburban Catholic Conference schedule Friday at home against Notre Dame.
“That’ll be tough. That’s a good team,” New said.
“We’ve got a tough conference, a lot of hard games,” Sznajder said.
Tim Tierney is a freelance reporter for The Naperville Sun.
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