If the high school football season lasted only two games, some of the Cardinal Stritch football players might have been seen jumping off the nearest high-rise.

But that's the beauty of a 10-game regular season, there is plenty of time to turn things around.

Coach Joe Gutilla's Cardinals found themselves 0-2 following road losses to Fremont St. Joe (62-6) and Woodmore (43-24). It wasn't a good start for a team looking to forget last year's 1-9 mark.

“The St. Joe game, the score was a little misleading,” Gutilla said. “When I pulled my starters out of the game about the middle of the third quarter, the score was 28-6. I put my jayvee group in, which is pretty much freshmen and sophomores with not much experience. St. Joe has a good program and even their jayvee kids scored all over the place against my guys. We didn't play well offensively; we made way too many mistakes.

“The same thing happened against Woodmore. We played pretty good defense, but our offense gave up the ball. We had like five interceptions...just a horrible game for us.”

The Cardinals turned things around on Sept. 11 with a 55-12 rout of visiting Plymouth (Mich.) Christian. They followed that victory with a 35-23 win over Toledo Area Athletic Conference rival Ottawa Hills last Saturday.

“We've made a lot of progress in the last two weeks,” Gutilla said. “Our kids are much better right now and starting to figure things out. The game last week against Ottawa Hills did more for our psyche because our kids finally started to play to win instead of playing to avoid losing. That's a big difference.”

Gutilla called the win over the Green Bears (2-2, 0-1 TAAC) a “huge” win for Stritch.

“We finally figured out how to run our offense and, defensively, my coaches had a great game plan to stop their offense,” he said. “For the most part, we did everything we were coached to do. The kids finally realized if they listen to us and do what we want them to do, they'll have success.

“Would I like to have a shot at those other two schools? Yes, but that's in the past and we've learned from our mistakes and we need to look ahead and take them one game at a time.”

Gutilla said junior quarterback Mike Blazevich had a breakout game against Ottawa Hills, completing 6 of 12 passes for 128 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions.

“He finally did the things we expect him to do,” Gutilla said. “He was the catalyst for us offensively because of his ability to sprint out and attack the line of scrimmage. He ran the ball when guys were covered and he was a big reason we were able to maintain our drives and throw the ball when we did.”

Senior wingback Nick Fuller and senior fullback Tim Langlois also had big games against the Bears. Fuller rushed for 204 yards on 12 carries and scored twice, while Langlois had three touchdowns.

“Nick is shifty little bugger,” Gutilla said. “He has good quickness and speed and he really runs hard. He's only 5-8 or 5-9 and he's hard to see when he gets behind those offensive linemen.”

Gutilla said he affectionately calls the trio of Fuller, Langlois (5-10, 185), who played soccer the last two years, and senior wingback Joe Geiermann (5-7, 155) his 'Smurf backs.'

“Geiermann did a great job for us against Ottawa Hills,” Gutilla said. “Tim runs really hard and is your prototypical fullback. He blocks well and when he gets the ball, he runs hard. He's probably our biggest surprise. We didn't know what to expect from him, but he's been a pleasant surprise for us.”

Gutilla said he has seen a big improvement from the Cardinals' offensive line. He said tackles Dave Szymanski and Andy Geiermann, guards Murphy Mahoney and Shawn Zaborski, center Allen Thompson and tight ends Christian Peters and Jake Lynn are playing better as a unit.

“The line is starting to make the difference each week,” Gutilla said. “The way they've improved the last three weeks has been unbelievable. All those kids have really started to make a difference. My running backs will tell you that.”

Another strong performer has been Mike Kiss, a senior linebacker who missed the season opener and played sparingly against Woodmore after injuring his knee last season.

“Mike has made a huge difference for us on defense,” Gutilla said. “He's been a catalyst for us on defense. He's already had two interceptions and numerous tackles, at least 15 tackles per game.”

Stritch, which played its home games at Northwood for the past 15 years, now plays its home games at Clay Memorial Stadium. The Cardinals are 2-0 there this year and have three remaining home games.

“Oregon City Schools wanted to improve relations with their schools and the Kateri Catholic School system,” Gutilla said. “They thought a good way to do that is to share their facility with us. They gave us a generous offer for the use of their stadium and it was hard to turn down. It was win-win for both of us. Our kids love playing there.”

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