Photo By: Brody Hannon

In their seventh game of the season, the Loyola varsity football team faced off against Notre Dame High School on the Cubs’ home field.

Notre Dame started off the game with a drive of 20 yards. The Cubs’ defensive lineman Scott Kase stopped Notre Dame’s quarterback from passing the first down marker, resulting in possession of the football for Loyola. Junior quarterback David Warren started this game for the team, but he could not complete passes to Osaze Odiaze and Ceyair Wright, resulting in a punt for the Cubs. On the following drive, Notre Dame’s quarterback threw a 65 yard pass to his receiver, who then ran untouched to the end zone, opening the score for the game.  Warren continued to throw the ball for the rest of the quarter. The first two plays were to running back Hunter Ballard, who could not gain any yardage on both plays. Notre Dame’s defensive line was quick to realize Warren’s fake passes and stopped Ballard at the 30 yard line.

Beginning the second quarter, senior Scott Kase sacked Notre Dame’s quarterback on third down. Kase tipped the ball from the quarterback’s hands, and sophomore Ceyair Wright almost intercepted the ball, but it was just out of reach. ‍This play caused Notre Dame to kick a 42 yard field goal, which missed, and the Cubs gained possession again. On the following drive, Warren threw a 10 yard pass to wide receiver Ceyair Wright. Wright proceeded to dodge multiple defenders and gain 6 more yards on the play. Notre Dame’s following drive proved successful for the quarterback and for the team. A result of a 25 yard pass from the quarterback, the wide receiver ran the remaining 5 yards into the end zone, increasing Notre Dame’s lead by 14. Ending the quarter with 14 seconds left, Loyola punted the football, thinking that Notre Dame would run the clock out, and possession would return back to the Cubs in the second half. However, in the final seconds of the first half, Notre Dame’s quarterback ran 68 yards, scoring for a third time for Notre Dame. The first half ended with a score of 21-0 Notre Dame.

On the Knights’ first drive of the second half, junior Stephen Arellano stopped the running back from getting the remaining 3 yards for a new set of downs. Senior quarterback Nathan Priestly started the second half for the Cubs. Priestly threw a 15 yard pass to junior Brendan Pernecky. Pernecky traveled an additional 15 yards with a Notre Dame defender trailing him the entire way. On the following play, Priestly looked to pass the ball again. However, with nobody open‍, Priestly was sacked. Upon falling to the ground, the ball fell loose from Priestly’s hands and into the hands of a Notre Dame defender. Junior Carter Link forced a fumble as well on the following drive for Notre Dame. However, the Knights were able to hold on to possession. With just under two minutes left, Priestly was sacked again. As he was throwing the ball, a Notre Dame lineman punched it out of his hands. The defender picked up the ball and ran unguarded to the end zone, increasing their score to 28.

Beginning the fourth quarter, Priestly slinged the ball to running back Hunter Ballard while being pursued by multiple defenders. Priestly then continued the drive by throwing a 23 yard pass to receiver Brendan Pernecky. This put the Cubs in possible scoring position. With 6 minutes to go on the 15 yard line, Priestly decided to keep the ball for himself and ran into the end zone, scoring Loyola’s first six points of the game. The home crowd jumped up in unison, as the team celebrated Priestly’s touchdown. However, neither team scored after, and the game concluded with the score being 7 - 28.

After game, head coach Ric Pedroarias said, “Nathan had some very nice completions in the second half. He held the ball a little bit too long at the beginning of the second half, but then when he started finding his rhythm he was able to find receivers and complete passes.  A lot of people don’t know how capable he is of running the ball. He made a beautiful play when he scored. We had to run the ball pretty consistently to keep their defense off - balance, which is something we were not able to do at all throughout the game. I think our defense showed signs of improvement, but ultimately we need to improve our running as well.”