St. Xavier takes care of Langston
By Tim O’Brien For Sun-Times Media September 15, 2012 10:40PM
Updated: November 15, 2012 1:38AM
Even though his team held a 10-point halftime lead, St. Xavier coach Mike Feminis gave credit where credit was due Saturday as the Cougars hosted unranked Langston.
“Langston has as good defensive talent as we’ll see all year,” Feminis said. “They locked down our skill guys, and they did a great job that first half. It was a tough go.”
Fixing its offensive struggles, St. Xavier scored two quick big-strike touchdowns to open the second half on the way to a 37-7 home win.
Quarterback Jimmy Coy finished 9-of-20 for 215 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. Oak Lawn product Nick Pesek rushed 17 times for 148 yards and had a receiving touchdown. Shane Zackery had his third straight 100-yard plus receiving game, finishing with 140 yards on five catches with two touchdowns.
NAIA top-ranked St. Xavier (3-0) held a 17-7 halftime lead thanks to a Pesek 85-yard touchdown run (the longest run in school history), a Joshua Hunter 7-yard touchdown run and a Spencer Nolen 36-yard field goal, but the Cougars passing attack was out of sync. Coy finished 4-of-15 in the first half for 73 yards.
“We came out a little slow,” Pesek said. “We came back and did what we needed. The coaches saw what Langston was doing and we adjusted.”
Coy found Zachery (52 yards) and Pesek (45 yards) for touchdown passes on back-to-back possessions to start the third quarter and blow open the game.
“We thought we could hit them with some big plays because they were putting so much pressure on our receivers,” Feminis said.
The Cougars defense limited Langston (1-2) to just 139 total yards of offense. St. Xavier forced four turnovers, including two interceptions for Brother Rice product Jeremy Rhodes.
After a quiet first two games, Pesek was glad to have a breakout performance.
“It feels great, and if I get the opportunity, I’m going to do the best I can with it,” Pesek said.
