St. Rita running game, defense punish De La Salle

The pelting rain and the hallowing winds did their best to prevent St. Rita from generating anything on offense, but the Mustangs ran all over De La Salle in their 35-13 victory to advance to play Fenwick in the finals of the Catholic League playoffs.

It was a tale of two stories as the Mustangs were able to perform a balanced offensive by producing 400 total yards and 20 first downs while the Meteors struggled mightily by only tallying 189 total yards.

Much of the Mustangs offensive attack should be credited largely to their two seniors, quarterback Tommy Mister and running back D.J. Miles. Both engineered majority of their 270 rushing yards as Mister ran for 89 yards and Miles added 115 yards. It was a tandem the Meteors had zero answers for.

“We wanted to set the tone early in the game. Mister and Miles helped us do that,” remarked St. Rita coach Todd Huska.

After the Mustangs (10-3) defense blocked the Meteors first punt of the game to bring them in red-zone territory, Miles began the scoring when he had a 1-yard rushing touchdown to go up 7-0. On their very next possession, it was Mister who provided the offensive spark by using his legs and his arm to bring the offense to the Meteors own 10-yard line. He capped off the drive when he found senior wide receiver John Ladd in the back of the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown to go up 14-0.

On the ensuing drive with great field position because of the wind knocking down a De La Salle punt which barely traveled 20-yards, Miles was at it yet again when he zipped to his left in the second quarter on another 1-yard touchdown to give the Mustangs a commanding 21-0 lead. The De La Salle offense stalled again on their third possession of the game and they were forced to punt the ball away. This time, it was Mister who the Meteors had to watch as he scampered pass them on a 15-yard touchdown to go up 28-0.

By the end of the game, Miles and Mister were just too much for De La Salle (6-6) to handle.

“If they were looking pass, we would run on them. If they were looking to stop me, they would forget about Miles”, said Mister, who had 189 total yards and 3 touchdowns, “Even if they thought they picked right, they picked wrong.”