Jimmy Rolder’s two interceptions help Marist blank Nazareth

Marist linebacker Jimmy Rolder’s two interceptions were backbreakers. He got his first at the goal line in the third quarter and his second to kill a drive in the fourth as the No. 6 RedHawks earned a 13-0 victory Saturday against No. 11 Nazareth in La Grange Park.

‘‘It was exciting,’’ Rolder said of the third-quarter interception. ‘‘They were driving down and confident coming into the second half, and I made a big play. I was just kind of floating in my zone and saw the receiver coming across the middle, and my eyes lit up on that.’’

Rolder’s heroics were the standout plays, but the line play on both sides won the game for Marist. The RedHawks held the Roadrunners to nine yards on the ground.

Pat Coogan, a 6-5, 305-pound offensive lineman, has been helping out on Marist’s defensive line in goal-line situations this season.

‘‘I’ll get in there a little more against the premier run teams, like Mount Carmel and Loyola, so I can stop the runner inside,’’ he said.

Coogan and his teammates on the offensive line helped running back Jamari Grant rush for 156 yards on 30 carries. Grant scored both of Marist’s touchdowns on one-yard runs in the second and fourth quarters.

Coogan, a Notre Dame recruit, is one of a handful of Power 5 recruits in the area who opted to stay and play football in the spring.

‘‘We only have two games left, so we have to grind it out,’’ Coogan said. ‘‘It’s been so much fun. It’s kind of surreal at the moment to only have two games left, but that is what we’ve got, and we are gonna run with it.’’

Former Nazareth quarterback JJ McCarthy played this season at IMG in Florida and is already on campus at Michigan.

‘‘Staying was really important for me,’’ Coogan said. ‘‘I owed it to my teammates, my coaches and definitely Marist and the community. And it’s another chance to play football.

‘‘I discussed it with my parents, my coaches and the coaches at Notre Dame, and we agreed that if I was wholeheartedly in on playing that I should play. And I was, so no regrets at all.’’

Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times

Marist quarterback Dontrell Jackson Jr. was 9-for-15 for 125 yards with one interception. Senior Matthew Rolek caught four passes for 90 yards.

The RedHawks (3-1) will host St. Patrick next week, then will finish the season with a major showdown at home against top-ranked and unbeaten Loyola.

Nazareth (2-1) didn’t play the first week of the season, then beat St. Laurence and De La Salle the next two weeks. The Roadrunners will close out the season against Notre Dame and Benet.

Nazareth played three quarterbacks: junior Aidan Pieper, junior Benjamin Michel and senior Cass Kinsella. Pieper took the bulk of the snaps and was 10-for-21 with one interception.

‘‘[Nazareth] has always been great,’’ Rolder said. ‘‘They beat us last year at home. We just felt good. They came out confident, and we came out ready to play.

‘‘It shows how good we can be when we are all playing as a unit, everyone doing their job and making it work.’’