By Bud Milroy
Sports Correspondent
The Catholic Central High School football team got one touchdown behind Friday night against Racine St. Catherine’s.
The Angels made that one-score lead hold up for a 27-21 win over CCHS at the Hilltoppers’ homecoming game.
St. Catherine’s improved to 5-0 in the Metro Classic Conference and 5-1 overall, while CCHS dropped to 2-2 and 2-4.
“We played better overall than the week before,” said CCHS coach Tom Aldrich. “We were just a little short. I like the effort and how we hang in there and never give up.
“We’re coming together.”
Against the Angels, Aldrich said his squad had chances, but made too many mistakes.
St. Cat’s scored on the opening drive, needing just four plays to light up the scoreboard. Tarail King scored on a 43-yard touchdown run, and Eric Ritel added the extra point to make the score 7-0.
King and standout back Sean Madden ran the ball on all four plays of the drive.
“They are a tough pair to have to stop,” Aldrich said.
That would be all the scoring, though, in the first half, as the two teams settled into a defensive struggle.
Halftime adjustments became clearly evident on the opening possession of the second half. The Hilltoppers took the second-half kickoff and marched 71 yards to even the score. Grant Alderman did most of the heavy lifting on the drive, and closed it out with a 26-yard touchdown run.
Spencer Wilker’s kick evened the score with 7:28 left in the quarter.
The Angels needed just four minutes to answer, though, with King scoring from 19 yards out. The extra point was good and gave St. Cat’s a 14-7 lead. King capped off a 77-yard drive with an eight-yard run that put St. Cat’s up by two scores 21-7.
The Hilltoppers added a score with 2:55 left to go when Carson Meinholz went to the air and found Tegan Miles for an over-the-shoulder grab in the end zone to make the score 21-14.
With a 21-14 lead and under three minutes to play, Madden took over for the Angels. Following a failed onside kick, Madden scored from 41 yards out and made the score 27-14.
The Hilltoppers weren’t ready to concede, though. With 1:08 left to play, Meinholz connected with Jeff Stemper for a two-yard touchdown, and the extra point by Wilker made it 27-21.
CCHS was unable to recover the onside kick, though, and St. Cat’s ran out the clock to preserve the victory.
The Hilltoppers are on the road Saturday to play St. Thomas More at 1 p.m. CCHS must win its final two games to secure a spot in the postseason.
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