Nobody ever said it would be easy.

Nick Borgra rushed for 186 yards and three touchdowns and defensive end Joe Frescura’s huge sack in the final minute helped Joliet Catholic escape East Suburban Catholic Conference foe St. Viator 28-24 Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

Lions elusive quarterback Tyler Johnston was a pain to the JCA defense all night. He completed 28 of 50 passes for 364 yards and a touchdown.

Johnston drove St. Viator (2-2, 1-1) to a first down at the Hilltoppers’ 17-yard line midway through the fourth quarter. But the Lions’ Ben Dickey tried to make a big play on a jet sweep, reversing his field twice, and lost 14 yards to effectively end that threat.

The Lions regained possession at their 19 with 2:22 left and were facing a third-and-9 at the 40 of JCA (3-1, 2-0) when Frescura sacked Johnston for an 11-yard loss.

Frescura and Chase Krumviede then applied pressure on the fourth-down play and linebacker Mike Gruben, who was a tackling machine on this night, intercepted the pass to end it.

Borgra scored on a 33-yard run to get JCA back within 24-21 late in the third quarter, and on an 11-yard run with 9:33 left to give the Hilltoppers their 28-24 lead.

Published by The Herald-News/Shaw Media on Friday, September 19, 2014 by Dick Goss