DePaul Prep and Lane Are Both Regional Champs

[Preview of my Inside—Booster article for this week.]

By Jack Lydon

It was a good night for basketball teams from Addison and Western. The seventh ranked DePaul Prep Rams (28-4) defeated the Carmel Corsairs (12-19) to win their tenth consecutive regional championship. Their immediate neighbor to the north, the Lane Tech Champions (20-11) defeated the New Trier Trevians 67-57 to win Lane’s first ever regional championship in school history.

With the number one seed in the 3A Antioch Sectional, DePaul Prep faced the number nine seed, Carmel Catholic from Mundelein. The Rams controlled the game from the outset. Their patented switching defense stymied Carmel at every turn. The Corsairs struggled to even get shots up. They only scored one point in the second quarter, and that was a free through in the closing seconds of the half.

Rams’s junior guard Rykan Woo, recently selected as second-team All-City by the Sun-Times, had nineteen points included all thirteen of the Rams’ first quarter points. Senior forward and DePaul University commit Jonas Johnson started the game and added eleven points. Point guard and Western Illinois commit Makai Kvamme had ten points.

“It’s great. I certainly don’t take it for granted,” Rams head coach Tom Kleinschmidt said of his teams’ having won ten straight IHSA Regional Championships.

“It the cultivation of a program, the support that we get from the school, the coaches and players that we have had, names that [our current players] may not know or may have only heard of that really build the program, guys like Chris Herrell and Raequan [Williams], David Holiday, Scotty Calderon, [Dan Lydon], all those guys that build the program,” Kleinschmidt added.

“[Those guys] took the program and gave it to Perry [Cowen], Perry gave it to these guys. It’s been awesome. I don’t take it for granted. Ten straight regionals. I remember the first three that we played in we didn’t win one. I was hoping to win one or two regionals.”

DePaul Prep senior Makai Kvamme, widely regarding as a top point guard in the area, reflected on his last home game in DePaul’s Tom Winiecki Gym. “I have played here for so long, developed such a great relationship with my teammates. It means the world to me being here with my teammates and coaches.”

As good of a night as it was for the Rams, it was that and more for the Lane Tech Champions. The number four seed Champions defeated the previously ranked and five seed New Trier Trevians in the Maine South regional final 67-57. This was Lane’s first regional championship in school history. The Champions join the ranks of venerable southside 2025 CPS regional champions such as Kenwood, Simeon, Whitney Young and Curie.

The Champions reprised their January 18th 60-47 victory over New Trier but it wasn’t without having to deal with adjustments by the Trevians.

“They really tried to negate [first team All-City senior center] Dalton [Scantlebury],” said Lane Tech head coach Nick LoGalbo.

“They were in a box and one [defense] the entire game. We did a good job in setting our other guys up, using Dalton’s strengths in other ways. Guys stepped up.”

New Trier junior forward Christopher Kirkpatrick led the Trevians attack with his deadly long range jumpers. Kirkpatrick managed 29 points but it would not be enough to overcome a 17-4 first quarter deficit.

“We got hot from three early. We made some big ones late. We got to a point where they were just daring us to shoot it. Drew Barolai hit a big one from the corner. That kind of broke the game open in the third quarter. We took a pretty good lead. We maintained that through the fourth. And that was it,” LoGablo said.

“I am super proud of our guys. We have been talking about trying to do this for a long time. I thought we had the team to do it. We set the schedule at the beginning of the year. We decided that we are going to go play everbody. We found a way to get ourselves here. Our guys were ready for the moment.”

DePaul Prep advances to face a somewhat overlooked St. Viator Lions team in the 3A Antioch Sectional semi-final on Tuesday. The Lions have put together an impressive 23-9 record year.

The Lane Tech Champions will face #12 Evanston (26-5)  in the 4A New Trier Sectional semi on Tuesday.

Other area teams also played in the regional championships. In 4A, #20 Whitney Young knocked off the other ranked area team #13 Lincoln Park 50-47.

DePaul Prep Comes Back to Defeat Carmel 25-22

Preview of this week’s Inside—Booster article:

By Jack Lydon

DePaul Prep just keeps winning. The Rams 25-23 come from behind win over Carmel Catholic on Friday lifts the Rams to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in the CCL/ESCC Purple division. This is the best record in DePaul Prep football’s eleven seasons. The best record for 32 years reaching back into the Gordon Tech era when Tom Winiecki was the coach. In 1992, the Rams finished 10-1.

If you were in the DePaul Prep stadium Friday during the first half of the game, you wouldn’t have been thinking about that. The Carmel Corsairs (3-4) are extraordinarily talented. Their quarterback Trae Taylor is a high major division 1 college prospect. He is among the most gifted quarterbacks in the state even as a sophomore. Both their lines are huge and talented. Carmel won two games in the playoff last year. Frankly, the Rams were not the favorite and it showed in the first quarter.

The Corsairs moved right down the field with the opening kick. Sophomore running back Michael Pierre scored on a 33-yard run up the middle. Trae Taylor added a 3-yard touchdown run with 5:07 left in the half making the score 13-0. Maybe the Rams luck had run out.

“I was nervous. I will tell you that. I had a little anxiety going on,” DePaul Prep head coach Mike Passarella said of the early Carmel lead.

With time running down in the first half, it felt like the game might be slipping away. It was fourth down and one from the Rams own 29-yard line. The decision was made to go for it. A nineteen-yard gain later and a big first down, the Rams were looking to score.

“We are a slow starting team. It’s something we’ve got to work on. We know that we’ve got it in us,” said junior wide receiver Matthew Osterman after the game.

“We knew since Monday. We knew since the start of the season. Let’s keep working. Let’s keep going. The game’s not over. The clock has not hit double zeros. We just gotta keep going,” the confident Osterman added.

Rams’ senior quarterback and three-year starter Fernando “JuJu” Rodriguez connected with Rams wide receiver Justin Sterner on perfectly thrown post route right down the middle of the field for a 25-yard touchdown. The Rams were right back in it.

Carmel was not done in the half. They moved right down the field in the 44 seconds remaining and added a 42-yard field goal that hit the upright and fell throw to make the score at half time 16-7.

This group of Rams can play from behind.

“They are not 16-7 better than you,” Passarella told his team at half time. “You are shooting yourselves in the foot. You are making mistakes. Not communicating out there. Go out there and execute. We made zero adjustments. We just lined up and played football the way that we practiced all week long and knew we could.”

The second half was a different story. It felt like a boxing match. Each teams had their drives. The Rams senior wide receiver Bradon Peevy scored on a five-yard pass from Rodriguez midway through the third.

After a gutsy onside kicker recovered by the DePaul Prep, Rams’ sophomore kicker Emmett McCue added a 42-yard field goal of his own.

“I really tried to focus in, focus in on where I need the ball to go. I got it to where it needed to be,” McCue said. The Rams had a 17-16 lead with 5:59 left in the third.

Carmel’s run/pass offense was just too much. With 8:16 left in the game and the clock ticking down, the Corsairs and their talented quarterback and running back methodically moved the ball toward the south endzone. With 3:12 on the clock, Pierre darted ten yards up the middle to retake the lead 22-17.

 “We were both gassed on both sides of the ball. You saw what they did. They drove the ball right down on that last score. We were gassed. We weren’t getting off the ball,” said Passarella.

 With a big stop on the two-point conversion attempt, the Rams come off the field with a surprising confidence. We’ve got the ball and three minutes; no problem.

Rodriguez and his Rams took the field at the 20-yard line after a touchback. JuJu wasted no time is gashing the Corsairs with a couple fifteen-yard passes in the middle of the field. Then a couple determined runs by senior running back Nick Martinez as the clock continued to run.

“[Nick Martinez] is another three-year guy that we trust with the ball in his hands. He is going to make things happen and that’s what he does. He is patient. He lets his blocks develop. He hits the acceleration when he needs to. He makes things happen. He keeps drives alive,” said Passarella.

The dinks and dunks and the runs seemed to slow the Corsairs’ defense. With second and seven from the 20-yard line, JuJu dropped back to pass.

“It was actually a broken play. The cornerback . . . just left [Osterman] open, didn’t guard him. I tried getting it off as fast as I can, just throwing it out to him and letting him make a play. Honestly, I could not even tell you what the play call was. I just saw him. He saw me. So I snapped it and through it out to him and he scored,” said Rodriquez.

Rams’ junior wide receiver Matt Osterman made a great catch with an interfering defender draped all over him for the winning touchdown. His fifth touchdown of the season. This historic season.

Carmel wasn’t done. They put up a tremendous effort with under a minute on the clock but great defensive plays by the Rams would keep them out of field goal range and a chance to tie.

DePaul Prep basketball has become a top basketball program in the state with two state championships in a row. The boys’ cross-country team has a state championship. The girls’ volleyball team has become a top program in recent years. Why not football?

Several football observers I spoke to before the game thought that DePaul Prep would end up in 4A when the classes are officially announced after the season. 4A has a number of top teams in the state but not many. Rochester, IC Catholic and St. Lawrence were the ones that came to mind.

With the Rams officially in with six wins, it is not inconceivable that they could advance beyond an anticipated home game against an area school. An anticipated 8-1 or 7-2 record would likely bring a game against a downstate team or an area powerhouse team.

But the season is not over. It’s not the playoffs yet. St. Francis is next. Then Benet.

DePaul Prep Comes Back to Defeat Carmel 57-46 in Sectional Semi-final

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated the Carmel Corsairs 57-46 Tuesday evening (March 5, 2019) to advance in the Grayslake 3A Sectional. (More on that in the following post.)

The Rams started slow. I mean really slow. As slow as I have ever seen them start. They took a lot of shots in the first quarter. good makable shots. The shots would not fall. The Rams were behind 17-7 at the end of the first quarter.

But they rallied going on a 11-0 to start the second quarter. I felt a lot better. I confess at the end of the first, I was a little concerned that we might be a quarter of the way into another evening like the one in North Chicago last March.

It all worked out. Tom Kleinschmidt and his Rams dialed up the pressure and made shots. They gathered a sizable lead late into the fourth quarter. It got a little too close in the closing minutes but Raheem Anthony sealed the victory after a tough first three quarters for him with 6 for sure, but maybe 8, free throws to close out the game. That was clutch. (I am a little sketchy on the details at times because I am taking photos, not notes, during the game.)

My photos aren’t very good because I was watching the game too much. And the light in the gym sucked. Consequently, I had the ISO up too high. The photos are really grainy. Hope you like them.