As Bishop McNamara and Herscher continued to exchange haymakers with five lead-changing touchdowns to open the second half, it was beginning to appear as if whoever had the ball last would emerge victorious in Friday’s nonconference game at Herscher’s Seebach Stadium.

And then the Fightin’ Irish took control.

Micah Lee’s 10-yard touchdown scramble put the visitors ahead 31-28 four minutes into the fourth and was followed up by a pair of lengthy touchdown runs from Julius May, who finished the day with 237 yards and four touchdowns, as the Irish ran away with a 45-28 win to improve to 2-0 for the first time since their 2018 trip to the IHSA Class 4A State championship game.

After coming up short in the fourth quarter of last year’s 20-13 home loss to the Tigers, that’s not something the senior May was going to let have happen again.

“I was just telling my team all day that we trained so hard for this, we remember how it felt to lose last year,” May said. “It just kept giving us momentum. It was a tough game but we kept fighting, came together in the fourth quarter and finished the game out.”

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 38

Football: Herscher vs. Bishop McNamara Bishop McNamara's Karter Krutsinger pulls away from Herscher's Jaxon Sukley en route to a touchdown during the Fightin' Irish's 45-28 victory over the Tigers on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (Tiffany Blanchette/Tiffany Blanchette)

It was a heavyweight fight from the start, as the Tigers ran the ball 11 times on their 12-play, 66-yard game-opening touchdown drive that culminated in senior Alek Draper’s three-yard touchdown just over five minutes into the game.

It took the Irish just one play to respond, as after May’s lengthy kickoff return set them up at the Herscher 38-yard line, where speedy junior Malachi Lee took a jet sweep and immediately found paydirt to make it a 7-6 game seconds later.

“I told coach [Greg Youngblood] that I was going to score on the first play, so that’s what I did,” Malachi Lee said. “He told me I was getting it on the first play, I told my teammates to block and I’ll score, because I don’t want to have to keep running it.”

After a Herscher three-and-out, May plunged in from a yard out to put the Irish up 12-7 30 seconds into the second quarter, but the Tigers responded in turn, with Jaxon Sukely barging over a pair of defenders to barrel in for an 11-yard score to make it a 14-12 game midway through the second, a score that stuck until the half.

The Irish opened the third quarter with another May touchdown, a 15-yard scamper, and the first of five straight drives that ended with touchdowns. Herscher senior Mason Roberts returned the ensuing kickoff 89 yards for a momentous touchdown that put the Tigers back on top at 21-18 with 7:38 on the third quarter clock. And after Irish quarterback Karter Krutsinger took in a 17-yard touchdown on a busted play, Roberts found the end zone on a 14-yard touchdown catch to put the Tigers back on top 28-25 a minute into the fourth.

That’s when the Irish took over.

In for an injured Krutsinger, Micah Lee’s touchdown gave the Irish a lead again, this time 31-28, and allowed May and the defense to put the game on ice.

May broke free for an 87-yard gut punch of a score that grew the lead to 38-28 with 3:45 to go. One play after Jordan Calloway recovered a Jones fumble on fourth down, May was off to the races again, scoring from 42 yards out to put the game on ice and give it its final score with just over two minutes left.

“That was impressive,” Youngblood said. “To have the energy left to make those two long runs at the end, after playing basically all of offense and defense the whole game, to be dog tired, that’s special.”

May needed just 15 carries for his 237 yards and four scores, as the Irish totaled a whopping 446 yards on the ground. Micah Lee also hit the century mark with 106 yards and a score on seven carries.

In a game against a Herscher team built with its strength in the trenches, Malachi Lee was quick to credit his own linemen for winning up front.

“They get all the credit,” he said. “That whole game was them. They get all, all the credit. Every point.”

Now at 2-0, the Irish are off to their best start since their ninth and most recent state title game appearance, and while there’s still a ton of season left, the excitement is starting to come back as they begin Chicagoland Christian Conference play at home against Christ the King next Friday.

“It feels great,” May said. “Mac is back and that’s one game closer to the playoffs. We just have to go 1-0 every week.”

The Tigers (1-1) saw Draper total 92 yards and a score on 17 carries, while Roberts ran for 48 yards on 11 carries, caught two balls for 19 yards and a score and had his special teams score.

They may have come up short in their rivalry matchup, but head coach Mike Mosier couldn’t be upset with the way the Tigers fought as they begin their Illinois Central Eight Conference season with another rivalry against Manteno next week.

“Honestly, it was fun,” Mosier said. “You’re not going to see a lot of that in our conference. They’re fast and run at you hard, but we just kept going with them. I told the boys to keep plugging along and keep playing. … It’s one game and it hurts to lose, but we competed."