Ursuline surges in second half to rout St. Charles, 43-14

By GABE NORRIS

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

COLUMBUS — When the teams emerged from the locker rooms after halftime, it looked as if either one could win it after a deadlocked first half. But Ursuline High rattled off 29 unanswered points in the third and fourth quarters to rout Columbus St. Charles, 43-14, improving to 6-1.

“They came out inspired in the second half. At halftime we got after them a little bit and they came out and played a good second half”, said Ursuline coach Dan Reardon.

“In the first half we had a couple of missed tackles and alignments. I was glad to see we cleaned those things up at halftime.”

The Irish raced out of the gate to start the game behind standout junior tailback Darrell Mason. Mason ripped off a 61-yard touchdown run on his team’s second possession of the game to put them ahead 7-0. Five minutes later, Irish quarterback Lamar McQueen connected with Dale Peterman for a 54-yard touchdown.

“We will take big plays when we can get them, there is no denying that,” said Reardon.

To their credit, St. Charles rallied to tie it at 14 with two long, sustained drives against the speedy Irish defense. Behind senior quarterback Zach Vesco, the Cardinals strung together scoring drives of 74 and 80 yards to end the first half.

After the game, St. Charles head coach Ted Wierzbicki said, “Our quarterback played one of the best high school games that I have ever seen.”

Wierzbicki gave such high praise to his signal caller because before the game, Vesco could be seen throwing up and bleeding from the nose on the sideline. Vesco pushed aside all of the elements and played an outstanding first half while playing sparingly in the second after the game was in hand.

The Irish again went back to Mason to get things started in the third quarter. Mason took an inside hand-off 15 yards to the end zone for his second touchdown of the night. Mason finished with 77 yards on just four carries.

“We needed to make a statement in the second half on defense,” said Reardon. His team did just that when on the next Cardinals possession, they forced a punt deep and came up with a huge block. The ball rolled out of the end zone, resulting in a safety.

Reardon’s squad would never look back as they would add another 21 points before it was all said and done.