By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
Points have not been hard to come by this season for the IC Catholic Prep football team.
For the Knights’ opponents, not so much.
IC Catholic Prep vanquished another opponent this past Saturday via a 65-0 blowout win over Paxton-Buckley-Loda in a Class 3A second-round state playoff game at Plunkett Athletic Complex in Elmhurst.
The win puts the top-seeded Knights at 11-0 overall and sends them to the Class 3A quarterfinals likely to be held on Saturday at Plunkett Athletic Complex against Wilmington.
In the win against Paxton-Buckley-Loda, the Knights led 23-0 after the first quarter and 44-0 at halftime.
Quarterback Luke Ricobene went 17-for-20 for 290 yards and three touchdowns. He averaged 17.1 yards per completion and had a quarterback rating of 164.6.
IC Catholic Prep also gained 222 yards on the ground on just 16 carries (13.9 yards per carry).
Jordan Rowell ran only seven times, but for 119 yards and four touchdowns. He had an 82-yard run. Junior Daniel Gibbons ran two times for 55 yards and a touchdown, while Ricobene ran two times for 24 yards and sophomore Jacob Lytton ran three times for 23 yards.
Matt Sutton caught four balls for 82 yards (53-yard long), while Brendan Russ had four catches for 67 yards. Rowell caught three passes for 49 yards. Khali Sanders caught three passes for 33 yards. Luke Calles caught two passes for 39 yards and Khalil Sanders caught two passes for 20 yards.
On defense, Chris Johnson had 10 tackles, while sophomore Kemon Reese had nine tackles. Khali Sanders had eight tackles. Matt Jordan, Lazerick Eatman, Jim Kenneally and Michael Johnson each had a tackle for loss. Jordan had a quarterback sack for nine yards.
Sean Hipskind returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown. Sutton also had an interception. Eatman and Rowell each had a pass deflection. Sam Buffo kicked off eight times for 507 yards and had three touchbacks.
Khali Sanders, Gibbons, Sutton and Khalil Sanders each had a touchdown to go with Hipskind’s interception return for a score and Rowell’s four rushing touchdowns. Russ and Rowell each scored a two-point conversion.
