October 19, 2008. By Jay Morrison, Dayton Daily NewsStaff Writer

Saturday night, Oct. 18, the Rams also heard from Bill Parcells.

"Confidence is born of demonstrated ability," Wirth told the team, borrowing his favorite quote from Parcells.

The ability Badin demonstrated on this night was how to play defense, as the Rams locked up the potent Dayton Chaminade-Julienne offense to claim a 21-7 victory on Senior Night.

The win wrapped up the Greater Catholic League Central Division title , and it also puts Badin in great position to make the playoffs for the first time since 2002.

"The defense was as resilient as heck," Wirth said. "There were a few times they could have wilted, but they never did."

Badin (6-3 overall, 5-1 GCL Central) held C-J (6-3, 5-1 GCL North) to just 282 yards of total offense and a season-low seven points even though the Eagles drove into Rams territory on five of their final six possessions.

"We felt like everybody was kind of laughing at our defense," said senior defensive tackle Brett McKinney, who had four tackles, including three behind the line of scrimmage.

"When teams win the toss and take the ball, it's kind of a slap in the face," McKinney added. "But after tonight's game, there's not gonna be any question about how good our defense can be."

Jake Wurzelbacher and Jeff Smith each had interceptions, and Frankie Pate recovered a fumble.

Danny Wolf led Badin in tackles with eight, while Wurzelbacher and Tony Cassano each had seven.

"I really think teams have been challenging our defense, and tonight we answered the challenge," Wurzelbacher said.

The Rams' biggest defensive stand came late in the first half when C-J looked to be in position to cut into a 14-point deficit.

The Eagles had a first-and-10 at the Badin 11, but the Rams stopped them on four plays in a row.

"Some people may question why we didn't kick a field goal right before the half, but I knew three points wasn't going to do a whole lot for us," C-J coach Andy Helms said. "We knew we were gonna have to score 28 points to beat this team, and obviously we didn't do that."

Badin's Alex Rieman caught seven passes for 111 yards, but all three of the Rams' touchdowns came on runs by Zach Toerner, giving him 19 rushing TDs for the season.

Toerner completed 13-of-21 passes for 164 yards and carried 28 times for 103 yards to break the century mark for the third game in a row.

But after the game, he gave all the praise to the defense.

"The defense was huge," Toerner said. "We knew if we didn't turn the ball over, they weren't going to be able to drive all the way down the field on our defense. They did a great job."

Badin will try to officially punch its ticket to the postseason Friday night at Fenwick.