LADUE – Fifteen years ago, St. Dominic coach Blake Markway learned a new offensive formation while an assistant coach in Virginia. It involves two running backs, both with their hands extended, awaiting the snap.
The Crusaders call it, ‘Giant.’
“It’s an old single-wing formation,” Markway said. “When I came to Missouri and got my first head coaching job, I thought, ‘It’s such a good offense, it would be a disservice not to sprinkle it in.”
St. Dominic scored three touchdowns and a two-point conversion out of the ‘Giant’ formation to power past MICDS 35-28 Monday at Ron Holtman Stadium in a game rescheduled from Saturday due to inclement weather.
The Crusaders (8-0), which got 100 yards rushing and two touchdowns from senior Hayden Bolinger, avenged a 42-point loss to MICDS from the previous season.
St. Dominic played without lead running back Dominic Palo due to injury, so the combination of Bolinger and junior Tanner Hirtz performed double duty as inside linebackers on defense and running backs in the “Giant” formation on offense.
“The kids get hyped to run out of it because for the most part, it’s all of our defensive guys,” Markway said. “It’s a chance for the defensive guys to play smashmouth on offense.”
The first significant running play for the Crusaders occurred on special teams. On fourth-and-9 during the opening possession, Bolinger lined up to punt and sent the gunner in motion. The MICDS defender followed him, vacated the right side, and Bolinger scampered 15 yards for a first down. Four plays later, he powered into the end zone from the “Giant” formation to give St. Dominic a 7-0 lead.
“It’s the first time this year we took the gunners off the ball so they could motion,” Markway said. “(Bolinger) could have punted it, but because they chased and gave up the outside, he just kept it and ran.”
It would not be the only impactful fake punt attempt on Monday.
MICDS answered the St. Dominic touchdown two minutes later when senior LJ Triplett found senior Gabe Weaver on a 34-yard deep post, but St. Dominic showed it could come up big in the passing game as well. Senior quarterback Brennan Czeschin found Chaz Hurston for 11, Bolinger for 16 and then lofted a perfect pass to Jake Pinz in the corner of the end zone to put the Crusaders ahead 14-7.
“A big thing we talk about is balance, not that we’ll be 50 percent run and 50 percent pass, but the ability to do both,” Czeschin said.
While St. Dominic embarked on drives of 8 plays, 10 plays and 12 plays to start the game, MICDS was gaining yards in chunks. Justin Bishop caught a quick screen to the left and raced 25 yards. Two plays later he caught a quick screen to the right, bounced off tacklers and galloped 42 yards to tie the game, 14-14.
“It was a very mercurial performance,” MICDS coach Matt Irvin said. “There were things that were great, there were things that weren’t great.”
One of the great things for MICDS (4-4) occurred on the next St. Dominic possession, when junior Adrian Craig made a leaping interception and sprinted 41 yards to give MICDS a 21-14 lead.
Unfazed, Czeschin orchestrated an exquisite two-minute drill before halftime. The 10-play, 75-yard drive included a 30-yard connection to Coleman Murchison and a 17-yard laser to Hurston before he found Austin Ryan in the corner of the end zone with 18 seconds remaining.
The redemption drive was reminiscent of a game at Althoff in 2023. Then a sophomore, Czeschin threw a pick-6 on the second drive of the game to put St. Dominic behind 13-0 before he led the offense to 34 consecutive points in a 34-19 victory.
“For me, it’s knowing that when I make those mistakes, my team is going to have my back, they’re still going to believe in me,” said Czeschin, who threw just his second interception of the season to go along with 23 touchdown passes.
MICDS defensive tackle Ben Petersen blocked the extra point to keep the Rams ahead 21-20 at halftime. It was part of a monster day for Petersen, who also had 12 tackles and two sacks.
“We had a tenuous lead after giving up a late score, but the game was very winnable,” Irvin said.
A 15-play drive by St. Dominic in the third quarter resulted in a turnover on downs, but the play disparity was taking its toll. After a second consecutive three-and-out by MICDS, the Crusaders had run 57 offensive plays compared to 20 for MICDS. That disparity prompted an uncharacteristic gamble from Irvin.
“I think I’ve run a fake punt maybe twice in my career,” Irvin said.
Facing a fourth-and-12 from his own 23-yard line, Noah Menneke lined up in punt formation and fired a quick pass to Graham Faust, but St. Dominic senior Kolt Hopper made an excellent, open field tackle to stop Faust short of the line to gain.
“We saw some things on tape. We thought we had a play there and we just missed it,” Irvin said. “It put our backs against the wall, but we were really trying to steal a possession and keep our defense off the field because they were going to be a team that was hard to stop.”
And the St. Dominic ‘Giant’ formation proved to be unstoppable. Bollinger powered into the end zone from three yards away, then threw a pass out of the same formation for the two-point conversion. On the next drive, senior Chase Spurgeon pinballed into the end zone to give the Crusaders a 35-21 lead.
Weaver snatched his second touchdown reception, then recovered an onside kick to give MICDS a chance late in the fourth quarter, but the St. Dominic defense shut the door, and the giants ran out the clock.
“I’m pretty sure it’s been our most successful formation throughout the year,” said Hirtz, who ran the ball 12 times for 67 yards.
Czeschin added, “There’s a buy-in on this team to step in where you’re needed and be a football player, not just a positional player. We have a ton of people who are just football players.”
Giants, even..
For a photo gallery from this game, click on this link: https://benvessa.smugmug.com/Football/Football-2025/St-Dominic-vs-MICDS-10-20-25