Moving Up The JCA Charts

LISLE – Three games, three points allowed. Joliet Catholic Academy football coach Dan Sharp smiled at that defensive statistic after the Hilltoppers beat Benet Academy 35-0 at Benedictine University.

Saturday night’s East Suburban Catholic Conference game was the third that JCA (5-0, 4-0) faced an opponent running the spread as its base offense. And the response from defensive tackle Austin Bolton?

No problem.

“We’ve learned how to do different things to put pressure on the quarterback,” said Bolton, a 6-foot, 220-pound senior from Romeoville. “We knew they were another team that would try to spread us out.

“We knew they were going to pass a lot, but we did a good job in coverage and we had some sacks. We got a ton of outside pressure and forced them to run and scramble, and stopping that is our strong suit.”

Having Bolton and senior Nick Collofello as the interior of the Hillmen defensive line has been a strong suit as well for JCA against the spread. Bolton was a part of two tackles for loss and a sack, while Collofello and senior defensive end Matt Frolik also were a part of a tackle for loss and a sack.

As a result, JCA chalked up four sacks and three tackles for loss, with senior defensive end Josh Falk, senior linebacker Mike Passo and senior safety Dominick Allen adding sacks and junior linebacker Matt Madrigal making another highlight-reel stick with a tackle for loss in the Hilltoppers’ second shutout.

“I’m really happy, really pleased, with our defense,” Sharp said. “We’ve played three spread teams and we’ve given up three points with two shutouts. That’s something that we are going to have to keep up.

“We’re going to be playing a couple of very good spread teams down the road, but our staff put together a great game plan, and this should be a confidence builder again for our defensive kids.”

OLD SCHOOL: The JCA offense gained 424 yards, including 26 first downs and 340 yards on 55 rushes. The Hilltoppers’ defense limited the Redwings to 7 yards on 17 rushes and only 143 yards overall.

“Power running, good defense,” Sharp said. “It sounds like the days of old. We battled it out.”

NOTES: With 2,992 yards on 332 carries, Naperville's Malin Jones moved into the eighth spot on the school’s all-time career rushing list. Right in front of him are James Randle (442-3,136), Billy McKeon (441-3,299), Josh Ferguson (324-3,479) and Joe Benson (331-3,612) … Jones also tied Ferguson for fifth on the all-time scoring list with 49 touchdowns … With 1,990 yards on 229 carries, Ty Isaac jumped from 49th to 18th on the all-time career rushing list. He is within shouting distance of quarterback Mark Sopko (302-2,009) … If Isaac reaches the 1,000-yard mark for rushing in a season, it would be the 43rd time in school history by 33 different players. Isaac’s father, Tyrone, rushed for a career-high 1,136 yards in 1987.