If Brother Rice coach Brian Badke had to do it all over again, he would have made a few different decisions Friday night.
Namely, he would have instructed quarterback Dino Borrelli to take a knee at the end of the first half and denied the Ramblers a pass completion on a fake punt in the fourth quarter.
Both decisions led to Loyola touchdowns during a 48-37 Catholic League Blue victory over host Brother Rice.
The loss denied the Crusaders (8-1, 3-1) a chance at the league title. Defending Class 8A state champion Loyola (9-0, 4-0) clinched the title and extended its winning streak to 26 games.
“We don’t usually take a knee, but we probably should have in that situation,” Badke said. “That was a killer.”
The crucial sequence came with the Crusaders leading 23-14. Rice had the ball at its own 31 with 48.2 seconds remaining in the first half. Instead of running out the clock, the Crusaders twice attempted to throw the ball.
Both attempts ended with Borrelli getting sacked. The second one, though, resulted in a fumble, with Loyola’s Marty Geary recovering at the Rice 13 with 15.9 seconds left.
Three plays later, quarterback Tommy Herion scored on a 4-yard run with one second remaining in the half to cut the lead to 23-21.
“We still had the lead, but it hurt us,” Badke said.
There were 10 lead changes, and the last time Rice was ahead was with 53 seconds remaining in the third quarter when Borrelli (26-for-39, 387 yards) found Branden Houston on a 37-yard TD pass that gave the Crusaders a 37-34 advantage.
That lead evaporated when Duke recruit Jake Marwede (11 carries, 70 yards, 5 TDs) busted in from 2 yards to hand Loyola a 41-37 advantage with 9:15 remaining in the fourth.
The TD was set up when the Ramblers converted a fake punt on a fourth-and-6 from the Crusaders 43. It didn’t surprise Brother Rice linebacker Brian Olsen.
“We knew the fake was coming,” he said. “We just didn’t execute.”
The lead changed hands five times in the first half, but Brother Rice took a 23-21 advantage into intermission.
Borrelli accounted for two TD passes in the opening half — his 30th and 31st of the season. Borrelli found Houston on a 46-yard strike and later connected with Patrick Murphy on a 33-yarder.
Running back Xazavian Valladay scored the other first-half TD for the Crusaders by scampering in from 7 yards.
Brother Rice receiver Ricky Smalling totaled 12 catches for 121 yards. He called the Ramblers defense “the best the Crusaders have faced.”
“We just didn’t execute the way we needed to,” Smalling said. “They’re a great team. They have an amazing defense. We know what we need to work on.”
Twitter @disabato
