Chicago-Area High School Football News and Scores | Season Pass

Benet football continues to make strides.

The Redwings renaissance continued with a 44-6 thumping of Marian Catholic on Friday night at Benedictine University in Lisle.

The victory ended Benet’s 10-game East Suburban Catholic losing streak and marked the Redwings’ first ESCC win since Week 8 of the 2010 campaign.

“We know we’re good and we can play with teams in ESCC,” said Benet’s Jack Crain, who sees time at linebacker and at fullback.

Benet (4-1, 1-1) led 3-0 after the first quarter and then the defense helped generate turnovers — which led to short scoring drives thanks to great field position.

Running back Porter Ontko scored on runs of 50 and five yards and teammate Nick McTarnaghan added a 23-yard scoring run to help the Redwings take a 27-0 lead at halftime.

Ontko finished with 11 rushes for 108 yards while McTarnaghan had eight rushes for 36 yards.

“It is very exciting to be involved and playing football at Benet,” Ontko said. “We have more spirit this year. We want it more and we expect more of ourselves.”

Crain and Tyler Dale added scoring runs in the second half while kicker John Duvic added field goals of 29, 25 and 25 yards, respectively, to cap the scoring for Benet.

It didn’t help Marian Catholic’s cause that quarterback Eric Hurley left with an ankle injury after the first play of the Spartans’ second possession. Hurley was playing quarterback in place of injured starter Patrick Schmidt.

So, the Spartans (0-5, 0-3) were down to their third option as they lined up running back Ki-Jana Crawford at quarterback the remainder of the contest. Troy Nutall provided the lone highlight when he scored on a 45-yard run midway through the fourth quarter to cap an 81-yard scoring drive. Nutall finished with a team-high 58 yards rushing.

“When you get down to your third-string quarterback there is not much you can do — it’s like drawing (plays) up in the sand,” Marian Catholic coach Dave Mattio said. “We haven’t been able to generate much offense all season. We just don’t have the size along the line. Defensively, we’ve played pretty well, but we just haven’t been able to generate what we need on offense.”