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Jonas Emilsson

The snow made it miserable.

The howling wind made it miserable.

The freezing temperature made it miserable.

A win made it all bearable.

In less than ideal conditions the Notre Dame Pride extended two season-long streaks with a 17-6 victory over the Henry Wise Wood Warriors on Thursday night in this week’s Kram Game of the Week.

First, and most importantly for the Pride, they grew their undefeated record to 5-0, while at the same time forcing Wise Wood to 0-5 in the win-loss column.

Despite the disparity in the standings between the two teams, this game had every reason to become an all-out rumble.

Which, by the way, it most definitely was.

“That’s what we expected,” said Pride’s head coach Dave Diluzio. “They are a very good team and they’re extremely well coached.”

Just one year ago, the two teams squared off in the Div I senior boys’ final, which saw the Warriors capture the championship while at the same time putting an end to the Prides’ 2008 season long win streak.

Was there any thought of exacting some revenge on the Pride’s part?

“That was last year,” said Diluzio, putting an end to that thought.

And of course the viscous winter weather negated a lot of the advantages at certain skill positions where the Pride may normally have had the advantage.

In the end, the fans who dared to face Mother Nature head on were treated to an extremely physical, well played game that could have gone either way.

After both teams traded early field goals, Jimmy Underdahl got the Pride on the board with the games’ first major at the 9:04 mark of the second quarter.

On the scoring play, Underdahl took the snap on the 20-yard line, rolled to his left and found receiver Matt Lamoureux just inside the corner of the end zone.

The Warriors countered with a late first-half field goal to make the score 10-6 heading into the half-time break.

The second half was dominated by both defensive sides, as the worsening weather seemed to take it’s toll on both offenses’ ability to put together sustained drives.

But the cold temperatures definitely did not have an impact on the players’ ability to lay out enormous, bone-crushing hits.

The defensive stalemate was eventually brought to an end late in the fourth quarter when Mike Murray plunged into the end zone on a second and goal opportunity to make the score 17-6.

Thanks to the victory the Pride still sit all alone on top of the division.

The Bowness Trojans continued their excellent season with a 11-4 victory over the Bishop O’Byrne Bobcats, which means they now share second place with the St. Francis Browns, who defeated the the St. Mary’s Saints 14-1.

Both teams own 4-1 records.

The Bobcats’ loss dropped them to fourth place in the standings with a 3-2 record.

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