Benet’s Alec McEachern felt the impact of his big hit, and he wasn’t alone.
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When the senior strong safety immediately met Jeff Thomas on a screen pass on the first play from scrimmage, he didn’t just drop East St. Louis’ star wide receiver for a 5-yard loss.
He set a tone.
“I felt the people in the stands knew it too,” McEachern said. “We weren’t just some suburban team that was here to lie down. We were here to put up a fight.”
Indeed, the Redwings did.
Holding East St. Louis to its season-low point total, Benet hung in for a half Saturday before losing 20-0 in the Class 7A semifinal at Benedictine University.
The Flyers (13-0) advanced to the state championship game for the first time since winning the 2008 title.
On the heels of beating Rolling Meadows, Benet’s defense backed it up with another heroic effort.
“We showed what we truly are,” said McEachern, who also intercepted a pass. “We believe that we are the best defense in the state. We got put in some bad situations. Our defense played phenomenal.”
Three times in the first half, the Redwings (10-3) turned away East St. Louis in the red zone.
Matt Kaufman dropped Flyers quarterback Reyondous Estes for an 11-yard loss on fourth down, and Brett Kerger tackled Estes for a loss for a turnover on downs in the second quarter.
Near halftime, the Flyers got possession at the Benet 21 after an interception. The Redwings held up again. Devin Petersen tackled Flyers running back Jarrell Anderson for a 4-yard loss on fourth-and-goal.
It kept East St. Louis’ lead at 8-0 at half.
“That was an awesome effort by our defense,” Benet coach Pat New said. “I thought we had a chance there until the third quarter.”
Anderson (25 carries, 140 yards), who scored on a 23-yard TD run for the Flyers late in the first quarter, made it 14-0 with an 8-yard TD with 2:04 left in the third quarter. Thomas picked off Benet quarterback Jack Sznajder two plays later, and two plays after that, Estes connected with James Knight for a 32-yard TD.
Sznajder and the Benet offense couldn’t generate any momentum after the game’s first minutes.
The Redwings gained three first downs on their first five plays but only had two more — both on Flyers penalties — until their last possession.
Sznajder completed 9 of 34 passes for 131 yards and was intercepted three times. Benet managed just 25 yards until its last drive.
“Their speed and athleticism was just killer,” Sznajder said of East St. Louis. “They bring a lot of guys on the rush, and they man up everybody else. It’s just hard to get a ball off.”
McEachern, a two-year starter with an offer from Air Force in hand, reflected on Benet’s run.
The Redwings went on the road twice to knock off higher-seeded opponents and in doing so matched the 2012 team’s run to the semifinals.
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“We’d kid coach New to forget the 2012 team,” McEachern said. “We thought 7A was down this year, and that this was our year. We showed that we could do it.”
Joshua Welge is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.