Marty Dosen wants to make the most of his time left at Benet.
The senior running back, in a sense, is also making up for lost time.
Dosen called his game-winning, 30-yard touchdown in a 29-23 win over Hoffman Estates in the first round of the Class 7A playoffs a career highlight, but his 124 yards on 19 carries left him wanting more.
“To be quite honest I was hoping to get the ball more,” Dosen said. “I thought I could make things happen. It was potentially my last game, I felt good early and I wanted the ball in crunch time.”
It’s been a big difference from last season.
Dosen began his junior year as Benet’s starting running back. He gained 607 yards, but had more fumbles than TDs. A hip pointer in Week 7 sidelined Dosen.
“Got to be honest, going into my junior year, I thought it would be easy to make the transition from sophomore to varsity,” Dosen said. “I was undersized and really didn’t work as hard as I should have. I was disappointed in my season.”
Dosen was switched to slot receiver to start this season, but that didn’t last long.
After two weeks, Dosen moved back to running back and hasn’t looked back. He’s rushed for 724 yards and eight TDs, eclipsing 100 yards four times.
Twenty pounds heavier and a step quicker, the 5-foot-9, 190-pound Dosen seems to be getting stronger as the season progresses.
“Once I got back to playing running back I told myself this is my last hurrah, got to go for it,” said Dosen, who will play baseball at Parkland College. “A lot of the added weight came in my lower half.
“The size has made a difference. I’ve been able to stay up a little more and I’ve worked more on ball control.”
A win at Normal this Saturday brings Benet home for its first quarterfinal game since 2012, history that is not lost on Dosen.
“That was a historic run but we want to establish our own legacy,” Dosen said. “Making the quarterfinals is another step.”
Runaway train: Waubonsie Valley senior Quaid Gill, who’s 5-8 and 170 pounds, hardly plays like it.
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“He’s not that big, but he runs like a freight train,” Warriors coach Paul Murphy said.
The train finally left the station Saturday. Gill gained 58 yards on 13 carries in the Warriors’ 33-23 upset of Hinsdale Central in the first round of the 8A playoffs.
Gill, also a starting safety, was expected to provide a one-two punch with Nate Ashford. A sore knee slowed Gill most of the season, and he was needed more on defense.
He only had 14 carries for 55 yards in the regular season, but he finally got healthy in practice leading up to the playoff opener, and he looked like it.
“Quaid did a heck of a job establishing our outside veer play,” Murphy said. “We were running that outside veer last year with (Max) Ihry. I just knew if we got Quaid healthy we could come back to that.”
Robinson record: Put Waubonsie Valley’s Charles Robinson in the record books.
With six catches for 214 yards and four TDs last Saturday, the junior tight end broke R.J. Luke’s single-game program record of 189 receiving yards set in 1995. Robinson’s four TDs also is a Waubonsie record.
We meet again: Normal may not be a program known to schools north of I-80, but the Ironmen aren’t entirely unfamiliar to Benet. The Redwings (8-2) played Normal in June at the Downers Grove South 7-on-7.
“They kicked our butt,” Benet coach Pat New said. “We know they’re good.”
Indeed, Normal (9-1) is averaging 42.8 points and topped 50 five times.
“They run a pretty complex offense,” New said. “They spread it out, but they run it equally well.”
Joshua Welge is a freelance writer for the Naperville Sun.