If only Johnny Lattner could have suited up for the Fenwick football team’s season opener.
The Friars could have used Lattner, the 1953 Heisman Trophy winner from Notre Dame whose number 34 was retired by his former high school in an emotional ceremony during halftime of Fenwick’s showdown against Hubbard at Soldier Field on Sunday afternoon. Fenwick tried all day to bust through Hubbard’s mammoth defense, but the result was a scoreless effort. In the second game of the Kickoff Classic, the Friars fell 27-0 to the Greyhounds, the same team that knocked them out of the Class 6A playoffs last season.
Playing in Soldier Field’s vast stadium may have been a thrill for the Friars, but the field conditions were less than stellar. The night before, the Bears had played San Francisco in an exhibition game, and the premier match-up of Joliet Catholic versus Mt. Carmel had taken place earlier on Sunday. The wear-and-tear of the field had set in, but it didn’t seem to deter Hubbard, who scored in the first quarter off a 5-yard run by Triviyon Seay.
Fenwick held the Greyhounds in check the rest of the first half. But Fenwick fans may have received their most joy of the day during halftime when Lattner was honored. A flag with Lattner’s name and number rose aloft a pole on the roof of the south end of the stadium to cheers. The former Friar, who scored 20 touchdowns for the Fighting Irish, gave a heartwarming speech before being swarmed by his 25 grandchildren.
But the emotion didn’t spill over to the field as the Greyhounds quelled any chance of a Fenwick come back in the third quarter when Emery Oliver returned a punt 45 yards for a touchdown, and then rushed for a 30-yard TD to put the score at 20-0.
Hubbard closed out the scoring when, on fourth down in the final stanza, Will Taylor hit Seay for a 13-yard touchdown reception.
The Friars will try and regroup when they host Providence at Morton West High School on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.