[Preview of this week’s Inside Booster article]
By Jack Lydon
The DePaul Prep Rams took apart the St. Patrick Shamrocks 41-0 at DePaul Prep on Friday evening. The Rams improved their 4-0, 2-0 in the CCL/ESCC Purple division. This game against the Shamrocks, 2-2, 1-1, also in the Purple, took on the added significance because it was a division game.
It was a busy evening on the west end of Roscoe Village. DePaul Prep hosted St. Patrick, the only other Catholic high school on the Northside. Lane hosted Whitney Young at Lane Stadium at the same time just a few hundred yards north of DePaul’s field. Parking was difficult to come by.
Before the game, the DePaul Prep fans, coaches and staff I talked to were tightlipped about what to expect.
“They’re good. And big,” a couple people told me.
Another observer told me, “DePaul 20-13.”
“They can run the football, but they haven’t played anyone that can pass the ball like we can,” one coach told me.
It didn’t take long for the Rams show exactly how well they can pass the ball. And score. Less than two minutes into the game, Rams senior quarterback Juju Rodriguez hit senior wideout Justin Sterner on a twenty-five-yard touchdown.
Not long thereafter, Rams’ senior running back Nick Martinez added another touchdown with a 37-yard for a touchdown. 14-0.
Rams’ senior wide receiver Braden Peevy scored a four-yard touchdown with 6:55 left in the second quarter to make the score 21-0. The Rams were rolling.
Then with nine seconds left in the half, Rodriguez connected with junior wide receiver Matthew Osterman on a 23-yard post route at the back of the north endzone for a fourth touchdown and a 27-0 half time lead.
To some extent, that was expected. The Rams and Juju, a three-year starter, can pass the ball and score. What was not expected was the way the Rams defense controlled the Shamrocks. St. Patrick’s strung together a couple first downs in the first quarter but never threated to score in the first half. The Rams defense held on every possession and forced punts. The Shamrocks offensive line is huge. The Rams defensive line stopped the run. The closest the Shamrocks go to scoring as a 52-yard field goal attempt late in the game that was on target but a came up few yards short.
It felt like the Rams were just taking-care-of-business. St. Patrick had a winning record. They are big and skilled. Yet the Rams handled them on offense and defense.
I remember interviewing Rams head coach Mike Passarella several years ago. He said something to me after a tough loss that stuck with me. “We haven’t learned how to win yet.”
The Rams have learned how to win.
“I think it started last year. It started with us losing a game against Providence [Catholic in New Lenox] by a couple points. Then we beat Fenwick in double overtime. We learned how to compete, how to stay in games and how to finish games. When I started here, it was a rough go in the beginning. Then every year it was a steady climb. We grew up last year,” Passarella said.
When one learn how to win, I guess it just feels like taking care-of-business. Check off another game on the schedule.
But the goal of the season is to get into to the playoffs. The Catholic school super football conference, a combination of the Chicago Catholic League and the East Suburban Catholic League, doesn’t make it easy to get to the playoffs. To be assured a playoff spot, the IHSA requires a 6-3 record. Getting six wins in the CCL/ESCC is tough for every team. You just don’t play teams at your level. You play teams from the higher divisions of the conference.
The Rams face Loyola next week from the Blue Division. Loyola has lost one game in the last three seasons. The Rams will play St. Francis (Wheaton) from the Green Division. The Rams will play Carmel Catholic from the White Division. Very good teams with winning programs. And then there are St. Viator and Benet Academy, historically successful programs and new rivals in the Purple Division. To make the playoffs, the Rams have to find two wins in those five games against teams from the upper levels of the Catholic League.
Asked what he is going to change to get ready for Loyola, Passarla said, “Honestly, nothing. Our practice is going to be the same during the week. The kids know that when we are on the road, it’s a business trip. This is the first group that has the ability to flip the switch and be engaged. They want it.”
They turned a corner. They learned how to win.
“Yup, this group is hungry. This senior class wants to be the first class to bring us back to the playoffs for the first time in a decade,” Passarella concluded.
