Wow! Huge 41-32 win for the DePaul Prep Rams over a talented and big St. Rita Mustangs team. I try play it straight and not to be such a fan in these posts but with these top Chicago Catholic League games at the end of the season, I just give that up.
It was just great to see the Rams beat St. Rita last night in probably one of the last games in the Tom Winiecki Gym. The Rams are not going to be CCL champs this year but these wins over Loyola, Brother Rice and St. Rita in recent days sure are nice. That 20-4 overall record is pretty impressive. Three losses in the CCL hurts but these big wins at the end take some of the sting out of that.
St. Rita was without their star sophomore point guard Jaedin Reyna. They missed him. The Mustangs struggled even to take outside shots. And they still almost won the game.
There was a really cool moment early in the game. The Rams were passing the ball around looking for a shot. The gym fell a little quiet. The whole gym could hear Coach Klienschmidt yell to his team, “Michigan. Everything we talked about we are not doing. Flash to the ball.”
That was cool. You just don’t get that in other sports.
Like so many Gordon Tech and DePaul Prep teams lead by Tom Kleinschmidt, if they get a lead late in a game, it so hard to beat them. Tom’s teams handle the ball well and make their free throws—usually. They struggled a little with that early in the season but not anymore.
The Rams made their free throws at the end last night and won by nine points over the vary talented 24th ranked St. Rita team. The Mustangs are in second place in the CCL Blue at 10-2 with a 19-10 overall record. CCL Blue second place will be at stake on Tuesday. The Mustangs take on Brother Rice and the Rams travel to Leo. If the Rams win and the Mustangs lose, DePaul Prep will finish in second place by virtue of the head-to-head victory of St. Rita.
Leo and Marian Catholic are left for the Rams before the 2A playoffs. Leo is having an historic season and I am glad for them. They are CCL Blue champs and deserve to be. We will see if the Rams can go to Leo on Tuesday and come away with a win.
As for the photos, I have been working on my “Kirsten Stickney Reaction Shots.” Didn’t get many good ones but I am going to keep working on them.
Coach Kleinschmidt called for team photo after the game. He wanted to savor this last regular season home game in the Tom Winiecki Gym. The photos turned out well.
