DePaul Prep Defeats Oswego East 56-48

The DePaul Prep Rams (10-1, 1-0) played the Oswego East Wolves (6-4, 4-1) in the Coaches United Invitational at Whitney Young last evening. The game started about forty-five minutes late because the Curie v. Waukegan game before went into overtime.

These shootout games make me nervous because they are at such random times on random days. I fear they will catch the Rams distracted or tired or hurt or just not focused. I tell myself, “don’t worry about the win/loss record.” What does it really matter if one drops a game to some south suburban school? This is about winning the Chicago Catholic League and the 3A state championship.

The Rams were waiting.

So was I. The white balance on my R-3 had been off in recent days. So, since I had some time. I had my headphones with me so I fired up You Tube for a quick tutorial on doing a manual white balance on the R-3. I did the white balance and it worked nicely.

Then I waited some more.

I sat in my usual spot at Whitney Young. Except this was not a Whitney Young game. I was at the wrong end of the gym to catch the Rams on offense. Not a big deal; it just felt a little off.

At the start of the game, the Rams were a little off. Not so bad, just committing more turnovers than usual. They lead 13-7 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter wasn’t better. There was still a lot of turnover and the refs were not helping. Tied at 25 at the half. Nothing that was so bad. Just off.

I thought, Tom Kleinschmidt will work it out.

The Rams were better in the third. Rashaun Porter and Rykan Woo were scoring. The Rams’ defense kicked in at the start of the fourth quarter. Plus, Oswego East just lost some steam. They weren’t finding the good shots in the paint that they had been. An 11-2 run to open the 4th quarter (I wrote 9-2 in a tweet I posted but it was 11-2) gave the Rams the edge they usually put on teams at the start of the third quarter. The Rams kind of coasted to victory after that.

So the start of the season is in the books. Ten wins against one loss, and that to the No. 1 ranked team, and then by only two points. Wins against a couple ranked opponents and an out-of-state powerhouse.

But here is the really fun part—Pontiac. If you have gone, you should go. I love the Pontiac Holiday Tournament. My experience is a little different than that of the average fan. I sit courtside and get to go in the press room and relax in private while working on photos and stories. The fun part are the games. Always good teams and good games. The people in Pontiac are so nice and friendly, even talkative. It’s fun. I love it.

Now I get to see our DePaul Prep Rams in the granddaddy of the holiday tournaments. It’s an honor and a pleasure. But, they will face some serious competition. A win over host Pontiac would likely bring Joliet West, Curie, Simeon or Benet. Fine with me. The Rams will be ready. Let’s go.

DePaul Prep Wins 4A State Championship with Blowout 40-6 Win over Mt. Zion

[Preview of my Inside-Booster article this week.]

By Jack Lydon 

The DePaul Prep Rams (11-4) finished off their historic IHSA 4A playoff run with a convincing 40-6 victory over the Mt. Zion Braves (10-4) at Hancock Field in Normal, Illinois, Friday evening.

The Rams weren’t supposed to get this far. They finished second to Benet Academy in the CCL/ESCC’s Purple Division. They lost their last two games of the regular season. They have not qualified for the playoffs or even had a winning season in nine years. Some observers thought this game would be close. DePaul Prep was not a Chicago Catholic League powerhouse the way Montini, Mount Carmel and Loyola are. Mt. Zion runs a high-power offence fueled to two top division one prospects.  

The preceding three championship games were blowouts. In 1A, Althoff Catholic defeated Lena-Winslow 57-14. In 2A, Chicago Christian defeated Maroa-Forsyth 47-0. In 3A, Montini defeated Monticello 49-9.

If you thought would not win this game, you don’t know these Rams. This is a special group of seniors. When Mike Passarella took over the DePaul Prep football program six years ago, the teams improved year after year even if their records didn’t reflect it. But they never seemed to get over the hump and into the playoffs. Instead of finding a way to win, they found a way to lose.

But not this senior class, as freshmen this group was focused. They intended to win. Despite having a 4-6 record last year, they were in games last season even if they lost at the end. It was not going to be that way this year.

“In the last couple years, we have been close. There was nothing that could stop these guys. They were determined. You saw it out there the whole year. We had three loses but we should have won two. These guys have battled through a lot. They fought through a lot. They wanted to be champions. They said this was their goal and here we are right now,” said Rams head coach Mike Passarella.

Friday’s state championship game was a lopsided affair. The Rams controlled the game from the start offensively and defensively. The Rams held a 20-0 lead at the start of the second quarter. DePaul’s defense completely throttled the Braves.

The Rams showed dominance in the playoffs in all three phases: offense, defense and special teams. The DePaul Prep defense showed early that the division one players on the Braves squad, Brayden Trimble and JC Anderson, would not be a factor.

The DePaul Prep offense was led by senior quarterback Fernando “Juju” Rodriguez. Ordinarily, Rodriguez throws for touchdowns. Early in the first quarter, after Mt. Zion managed only a three-yard punt. On the very next play, with Mt. Zion and everyone in the stadium looking for the Rams to throw deep for a quick strike touchdown, Juju ran straight of the middle of the field for a 29-yard touchdown giving the Rams a 13-0 lead.

The Rams’ balanced attack is usually equal measures running and passing. That has been their key to success this year. But Friday, it was the run game that carried the Rams. Senior running back and three-year starter Nick Martinez had 100-yards rushing on 19 carries for a 5.3 yard per carry average and three touchdowns. Ram’s senior running back and defensive back Nicholas Hathcoat had 91-yards rushing on only four carries for a whopping 22.8 yards per carry and one touchdown. Rodriguez himself added 47 yards on 7 carries.

It wasn’t all running. Rodriguez was 5 for 12 passing for 64 yards and one touchdown to wide receiver Braden Peevy.

While the Rams have rebounded from years of losing seasons to win a state championship, DePaul Prep had the winning tradition of Gordon Tech football to show it’s possible. The students and players know about Gordon’s history. Former DePaul Prep head coach Bill Jeske was a member of the 1980 Gordon state championship team and frequently attends the football games. His son Emmit just recently played football at DePaul. Bill’s son Liam is a teacher in the school.

After last weekend’s victory over Coal City, Bill Jeske said, “Even though the name [of the school] has changed, the Rams’ traditions continue. I spent last night with my friends [from the 1980 championship team]. I said this team is just like us. They are a team of destiny.”

Bill is right. This year’s DePaul Prep Rams are indeed a team of destiny.

DePaul Prep senior quarterback runs for touchdown in 40-6 win over Mt. Zion. Michael Felish photo credit.

DePaul Prep Handles St. Patrick 41-0

[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.

DePaul Prep Throttles Marian Catholic 20-7; Improves to 3-0

Preview of this week’s article in the Booster.

DePaul Prep defeated Marian Catholic 20-7 Friday in Chicago Heights. The Rams improved to 3-0 for the first time in the DePaul Prep era.

DePaul Prep had Marian playing their game. The Rams knew Marian Catholic could run the football. Spartan six foot, 173 lbs, junior tailback Kyle Scott was a load, and fast. Early in the game, the Spartans strung together a couple first downs in each of their first quarter possessions. The Rams stiffened, forcing the Spartans to throw the ball.

An ebullient head coach Mike Passarella gushed about his squad. “Stop the run. That was the game plan,” Passarella said. “They moved the ball on us. I said, ‘let’s just play base football . . . Let’s get after them.’ We are confident in what our guys can do. They know their business,” Passarella said after the game.

“We wanted to force them to throw.”

And they did. Except the Spartans throw the ball to the Rams. Two early interceptions thrown by Marian quarterback senior Joey Baranski killed the Spartans drives without ever moving deep into DePaul Prep territory. Multiple illegal formation penalties contributed to the Spartans troubles. The Rams committed penalties of their own contributing a slow, mistake plagued half for both teams.

It wasn’t until the end of the first half before either team put together a scoring drive. With 3:27 left in the half, having moved the ball down to the Marian Catholic eleven-yard line, Rams’ senior quarterback Fernando “Juju” Rodriguez, a three-year starter, rifled a pass to junior wideout Matthew Osterman at the goal line in the middle of the field. Osterman caught the pass in a crowd for the first score of the game. The PAT gave the Rams a seven- point lead.   

 The Spartans took the subsequent kick but again throw an interception. The Spartans through a total of four interceptions in the game. The Rams took their 7-0 lead into the half.

 The second half was a different story. The Rams took the kickoff and moved right down the field. Halftime adjustments on the offensive line led to Rodriguez being able to connect with Osterman and Rams’ senior running back Nick Martinez for big gains. The drive culminated with a 25-yard strike to senior wide receiver Justin Sterner early in the third quarter.

Rodriguez added a touchdown late in the third quarter on a two-yard quarterback sneak up the middle. Marian blocked the extra point attempt making the score 20-0 at the end of the third.

The Spartans scored on a 73-yard pass reception touchdown that was mostly run-after-the-catch with 1:18 left in the game against the Rams’ second team defense but the game was decided at that point.

This was a huge game for the Rams. They haven’t started a season with three wins since the Gordon Tech days. The Rams move closer to making the IHSA playoffs which takes six wins to be assured a playoff berth. The Rams finished last year’s the regular season 4-5 and missed the playoffs

DePaul Prep started this season with two convincing wins over Deerfield and Marian Central Catholic, 35-28 and 35-7 respectively. The Rams moved up a division in the combined Chicago Catholic League and East Suburban Catholic League. Moving from the lowest “Red” division into the Purple. The CCL/ESCC Purple includes Benet Academy, St. Viator and Northside rival St. Patrick.

The Rams will face St. Patrick next Friday at home. After that will be Loyola at home. The Ramblers lost a shocker at St. Francis 35-21 on Friday. A playoff berth is by no means assured for the Rams. Only tough games remain on the schedule. After Loyola is St. Viator, Carmel, St. Francis and Benet.

Sparked by last year’s huge upset win over Fenwick at home and squad loaded with experience and talented seniors, including expected Division One talent of senior wide receiver Braden Peevy and sophomore offensive tackle Carlos Rios, the Rams football program is on the rise.

“I am excited for [the rest of reason]. This is kind of what we wanted. The goal is to continue to build up the program. We talked about it a few years ago. Where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do. We never wanted to stay down in the Red. We wanted to move up. If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. I am excited for it. This is what it is all about,” Passarella said.

Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout 2024

The Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout this past weekend was a good look at teams in advance this year’s upcoming tournament. I mostly cover the Chicago Catholic League and the Chicago Public League so I wanted to get a look at as many of those teams as I could. But I could only be there on Friday.

I got a look at DePaul Prep in games against Lake Zurich and DeLaSalle. The Rams have plugged in junior guard/wing Rykan Woo, a transfer from Whitney Young. The Rams return Makai Kvamme, AJ Chambers, Rob Walls and Rashawn Porter. They should pick up where they left off.

The Lane Tech Champions also looked like they picked up where they left off. Despite losing Shaheed Solebo to graduation, the Champions return Dalton Scantlebury, a top player in the 2025 class. The returning group of seniors, Braydon Rosenkrantz, Drew Bartoli, Mike Remotigue and Zach Mazanowski. Despite a close lose to Simeon in their first game, the Champions looked good.

The St. Ignatius Wolfpack looked very good against East St. Louis. Returning top player Phoenix Gill looked bigger, stronger and faster. A new group of starters, make this pack of wolves appear especially dangerous in the coming season.

I saw DeLaSalle against DePaul Prep. Meteors coach Gary DeCesare will have this talent group ready. They looked good but not good enough against the Rams.

I saw the first half of St. Laurence against Glenbard West. Jason Opeka had his Hilltoppers playing their 1-3-1 defense that was giving the talented group of Vikings, lead be returning EJ Mosley, some trouble. I didn’t get a good chance to see much of what Roshawn Russell and this Vikings will have in store for the league this winter. I asked one observer about St. Laurence. He said, “We’ll see.”

I also got a look at El Paso-Gridley. A newcomer to the R-B, the Comets look to show off their top performer Jonah Funk. The 6-9 forward didn’t dominate and played on the perimeter more that I expected. The 2-A Comets were overmatched in the game I some them play against DeKalb. It’s difficult to say how well the Comets will fair this season even with Funk. But I got a look at Funk, he will dominate the Comets conference opponents. I intend to get down to El Paso at least once this year to see Funk play, if he stays in El Paso.

I also got a look at Lou Adams’ Rich Township squad. I figured it was only a matter of time before Adams working Rich into a top team. That time appears to have arrived. Look for Rich to make a splash.

I got a look at Benet. The Redwings look special even without one of last year’s top contributor, Gabe Sularski. Sularski a couple court’s over after returning to his home town Lemont team. Sularski had a couple chippy exchanges with Whitney Young’s Antonio Munoz in their matchup.

Whitney Young is, well, Whitney Young. They will be very good as usual—maybe special. Antonio Munoz looks itching to get after a state title.

So those are my impressions of Friday. Here are a few photos from the day.

Lane v. Whitney Young

I went over to Kerry Wood Field Friday evening to catch the Lane v. Whitney Young baseball game. According to Max Preps, the Champions came into the game with an 8-0 record. Lane Head coach Sean Freeman corrected me when I asked about the spotless record saying that they dropped a couple split squad games to out-of-state teams on their Spring Break trip.

The Dolphins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Champions’ senior right handed pitcher Jack Davis gave up three singles, a walk and two runs with two out but settled down pitching five full innings allowing only one earned run with eleven strike outs and two walks.

I couldn’t stay for the whole game so it’s not going to get the full treatment and a story in the Booster. There will be time for that.

Sean Freeman’s Champions have three division one commits: senior first baseman Ethan Borggren (Northwestern), senior center fielder Henry Murray (Boston College) and freshman right fielder Sebastian Wilson. The talent is there for the Champions to have a great season.

It turns out that the Champions fell to Kenwood 6-4 on Saturday in what might be a telling look at the top teams in the Chicago Public League.

With the weather warming up and league play starting, I will be getting out to as many CPL and CCL games as I can.

The photos are not my best. It was coooold and I didn’t give it the full treatment. I am still getting back in the swing of taking baseball photos.

Rams Win 3A State Championship

[Preview of my Inside—Booster article.]

By Jack Lydon

Defense and free throws win games and state championships. The DePaul Prep Rams (35-2) defeated the Mount Carmel Caravan (32-6) to win IHSA 3A state championship. It’s DePaul’s second straight state championship who are believed to be the first time to win consecutive championship is two different classes, 2A and 3A.

The DePaul Prep’s second straight state championship is just the another in a string of successes in recent years: a 2A state championship last year, third-place finish in 2A in 2022, #1 ranking with wins over Fenwick and Evanston to win the Chipotle tournament in the COVID year and a third-place finish in 3A in 2019. The Rams are the winningest team in playoff finishes in the last five years.

The Rams and Caravan know each other well. They battled in February for the championship of the Chicago Catholic League, widely regarding as the top conference in the state this year. The first meeting had the feel of a heavy weight prize fight, or at least a Catholic League football game. The Rams prevailed 41-38 but the Caravan’s Lee Marks was out having broken his elbow in the game against Leo a week before. Marks adds so much to Mount Carmel as he proved in the semi-final against Mt. Zion.

No matter. The Rams opened the game in their usual fashion. DePaul Prep’s junior point guard Makai Kvamme, leading scorer for the Rams with 18 points, opened the scoring with a three pointer and then a layup off a turnover. The Rams added ten more and lead 15-7 at the end of the first quarter.

It’s best not to get behind DePaul Prep. Few teams are better at handling the ball and controlling the tempo. Maybe so but the Caravan has senior forward and Northwestern commit Angelo Ciaravino (24 points) is no ordinary player. Led by Ciaravino, the Caravan charged back in the third quarter.

The refs called the game much tighter than the refs did in the first matchup between the teams. Shortly into the third, DePaul Prep was called for three fouls in the space of four seconds off the game clock.

DePaul head coach Tom Kleinschmidt agreed the refs were calling the game tighter than he expected in a championship.

“I kind of lost my composure a little [with the refs]. That was my fault,” Kleinschmidt said.  

The Caravan cut the Rams lead to six points at the end of the third quarter and ramped up the defensive pressure in the fourth frame.

Championship experience and hours of free throw practice paid dividends for the Rams. Senior and All Area guard PJ Chambers was calm as could be. With the score 37-34, Chambers stepped up the line and dropped two free throws with a 1:44 to go. And then two more at 1:20. And then two more at 1:05.

It was Makai Kvamme’s turn at the line 50 seconds left. Two more free throws made. A layup by sophomore guard Rob Walls added two more points. Two more free throws at the end for Kvamme made it a 49-41 final. And a state championship, again.

“I don’t even have words. I am very excited. It’s amazing. It’s a pleasure to be part of this DePaul Prep program and to win so much,” said Rams’ point guard Makai Kvamme.

As to the free throws, Kvamme said, “I don’t think about it anymore. I am pretty confident. After the Normal game [where he missed two free throws with no time on the clock that could have sone it for the Rams], we worked on them every day because I missed those two free throws. I was upset obviously after the game. I just kept working,” Kvamme said.

Mount Carmel head coach Phil Segroves downplayed the tight calls. “I don’t know what the foul totals were. We did come out a little bit more aggressive [in the second half]. We knew that we had to play a little bit more up tempo. We were able to force some turnovers and get some quick buckets. That is where you saw the twelve-point lead cut to three,” Segroves said.

“We had the right scout on the wrong night. We had a great scout for DePaul Prep based on what we had seen and us playing them earlier in the year. Their guys did some stuff that we were not expecting. Their guys hit some big shots early. All the credit to Coach Kleinschmidt and DePaul Prep.”

It was a phenomenal season for the Rams. They won the Chicago Catholic League. It was the winningest season in school history, 35-2. Their only two losses were to the two teams that played for the 4A state championship Homewood-Flossmoor and Normal Community. They did it without starter junior guard Rob Walls for much of the season and junior forward and anticipated starter Jonas Johnson for most of the season.

They did it starting two seniors, two juniors and a sophomore. The sixth man was also a sophomore. They did without a lot of fanfare. They did it in a workmanlike fashion. They enjoyed themselves. And so did we.

DePaul Prep Defeats Mount Carmel 41-38; Win Chicago Catholic League

Here is a preview of this week’s story in the Inside—Booster:

By Jack Lydon

This was a heavy weight prize fight between two top teams, #4 ranked DePaul Prep (27-2, 8-0) and #7 Mount Carmel Caravan (26-5, 6-2), with top players, Jaylan McElroy and Angelo Ciaravino, for the Catholic League Championship. The Almighty must have wanted to save this game for end of season and cast the City of Chicago into a deep freeze on its regularly scheduled day causing the postponement to the end of the season.

This was not only the best game in town Monday night; it was the best game of the season and everyone knew would be. DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym as packed. There was an unconfirmed report that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelse snuck into the balcony seats after the game started but I did not see them.

The Rams fell behind 10-2 midway through the first quarter. Their shots were not falling. Mount Carmel scored inside early. Two things that typically do not happen. The Rams typically own the first quarter and give up very few points inside and trailed 14-8 at the end of the first quarter.

“They kept their composure. We talked about it. We have been there before. We are 13-1 in the playoffs the last two years. They have seen everything from down twelve with 2:50 to go to double overtime and overtime at Leo. They have seen a lot. It’s a thirty-two minute game,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

The Rams rallied in the second quarter with stellar defense holding the Caravan to five points and going into halftime tied at 19-19. This would be one of those games decided in the last minute.

In the second half, the Rams came out of the gate scoring opening a seven-point lead at one point in the third quarter. But Mount Carmel is too good to go away quietly. The Caravan’s best player, Angelo Ciaravino, the fourth ranked player in the class of 2024, made his presence felt scoring 14 of his 18 points in the second half.    

“We did a poor job on [Ciaravino] late. We had some poor execution defensively. He is that good of a player. He going to the Big Ten for a reason,” Kleinschmidt said.

The game was tied at thirty-eight each late. The defenses were tough. A steal by DePaul Prep’s PJ Chambers led to a foul that stopped Chambers from a layup. The gym screamed for an intentional foul as Mount Carmel’s player wrapped up Chambers with both arms. Chambers free throw game the Rams a one-point lead.

Mount Carmel’s Ciaravino fifth foul caused another stoppage and a blizzard condemnation from the Caravan’s head coach Phil Segroves.

Two more free throws by sophomore forward Rashawn Porter game the Rams a three-point lead. The Caravan had the ball down three points and a chance to tie the game with a little over ten seconds to play. Point guard Noah Mister drove the lane, his right foot slide, he put his left for down, leaned back picking up his right foot, shot the ball which went in. A whistle rang out. The gym collectively growned thinking it was a shooting foul and Mister would have a chance to tie the game.

No. The call was traveling. The ref waived off for basket. DePaul Prep got the ball.

The Rams held on in the final few seconds winning 41-38 to secure the Chicago Catholic League championship for the first time since the 2018-2019 season. Their sole Catholic League championship since the Gordon Tech days.

“First goal is done, yes,” said Kleinschmidt of the championship. “It’s everything. It’s the best league in the state by far. One of the best in the Midwest. There are a couple places to be greedy in basketball. Winning, winning it all and at the free throw line you get greedy. We are extremely proud of being undefeated in the best league in the stat and one of the best in the Midwest. 27-2, just tied a school record.”

“We just took what they game us,” said DePaul Prep’s leading scorer, senior forward PJ Chambers, with 20 points said.

“It was very important to win the Catholic League. Coach [Kleinschmidt] was very clear on what it means to win the Catholic League championship by ourselves. It’s so nice to win it all by ourselves.” Technically, the Rams had secured at least a three way share of the Championship with Brother Rice’s defeat of Mount Carmel the previous Friday.

What’s the second goal?

“State baby!” Chambers said. The Rams enter the IHSA 3A division state championship tournament next week. They open the in the Carmel Catholic regional in Mundelein on Tuesday. As the number one seed, the Rams will initially face the winner of the Grayslake North and Amundsen and then the winner of Wauconda and Carmel Catholic.

DePaul Prep Defeats Leo 62-23 on Senior Night

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated Leo Friday night 62-23 at home. It was senior night. The school also honored academic standouts and hosted a faculty appreciation night. The full house saw the Rams hitting on all cylinders with significant contributions from deep into the bench.

The Rams improve their record to a previously unattained 21-2 overall and 4-0 in the Chicago Catholic League. Certainly the best record that I have seen more than two-thirds of the way through a DePaul Prep/Gordon Tech season. Maybe not the toughest but the most important part of the season lies ahead—key Chicago Catholic League matchups.

The Rams have IC Catholic Providence, St. Ignatius, DeLaSalle, Mount Carmel and Fenwick left to play. Plus today’s game against Wisconsin powerhouse Peewaukee and the regular season finale against Benet.

One game at a time.

DePaul Prepare Beats Brother Rice 55-46 in CCL Showdown

A preview of my Inside—Booster article for this week:

The #11 DePaul Prep Rams (18-1, 3-0) defeated the #9 Brother Rice Crusaders (19-3, 3-1) at Brother Rice Friday evening taking a big step toward to winning the Chicago Catholic League championship.

The Rams and the Crusaders are two of the top three teams in the Chicago Catholic League Blue division. The other being fourth ranked Mount Carmel. There are, of course, quite a few League games left for the Rams to play, including Mount Carmel, St. Ignatius, Montini, Leo, IC Catholic, Providence, DeLaSalle and Fenwick but the winner of this game is set up for a showdown with Mount Carmel, the only other undefeated team in League play, to decide the eventual winner of the Chicago Catholic League. DePaul Prep will face Mount Carmel at home on February 12th.

The Rams opened the game taking their time to shoot the ball. The signature quick ball movement by the Rams seemed even more exaggerated then DePaul head coach Tom Kleinschmidt’s usual game plan.

“We wanted to them play at our pace with our short bench,” Kleinschmit said. Junior guard and defensive specialist Rob Walls and junior forward Jonas Johnson were out with injuries for this key League game.

“We wanted to make them go side-to-side defensively. If we would have gone up and done and gotten into a running game with them, we would have gotten beat,” Kleinschmidt added.

“We were ready and executed the game plan perfectly. We wanted to take good open shots.”

The plan worked. The Rams grabbed an early lead on the strength of two three-points early in the first quarter by senior guard and offensive sparkplug PJ Chambers. PJ added two free-throws at the end of the first quarter lifting the Rams to a 14-6 lead.

Rams’ center Jaylan McElroy picked up his third foul with 3:30 left in the half which forced Kleinschmidt to go to the bench earlier than me might have liked. But the Rams hung on taking an eleven point lead into halftime.

Brother Rice was simply too good to just go away. The Crusaders worked their way back from seven down at the end of the third to force overtime holding the Rams to five points in the fourth. Holding the ball has a way of limiting a teams’ scoring.

Overtime was a whole different thing. Once again PJ Chambers made an early statement by draining a deep three-pointer that felt like it came from the Rams’ bench. The Rams defense held the Crusaders to just two points in the extra frame and the Rams won going away 55-46. After Chamber early three, the Rams added six free-throws.

 “[Sophomore guard and PJ’s younger brother] AJ [Chambers] really grew up tonight. Shawn [Rashawn Porter] grew up about five or six games ago, probably the Christmas tournament [referring to Porter’s standout performance in the comeback victory in the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic semifinal against Oswego East]. AJ Chambers was able to give Makai [Kvamme] a break. He has been handling the ball for us for 32 minutes,” Kleinschmidt said praising his young player’s effort.

As for the Rams’ signature defense, Kleinschmidt said, “the switching really bothers guys if you don’t see it coming. And then, we do ‘front the post’ (meaning playing in from of the big man underneath the basket) with backside help. It’s part of our system. It’s hard [for other teams to] duplicate in practice. We are just used to doing it. It’s hard to prepare for.”

The Rams defense came through mightily in limiting Brother Rice’s stand out senior guard Cale Cosme to ten points. Cosme is the engine that drives the Crusaders.

“I just love to watch [Cosme] play. He is tough. He is a hard-nosed. He’s a good player. We wanted to tag him a little bit. We wanted to keep him out of the paint because he is such a great penetrator. He snuck around on us a little bit. But I think we did a nice job on him.”

Rams senior guard PJ Chambers came through for the Rams early in the first quarter. Two consecutive three-pointers lifted the Rams to an 8-2 lead. That set the tone for the Rams to make Brother Rice play their game.

Chamber could hardly contain himself after the game. “I was excited. I was happy. I was ready to play. I’m too excited, I can hardly speak right now,” Chambers said.

Chambers lead all scorers with 24 points; his highest scoring game of the season. Twenty-two points was Chambers previous top scoring game this season.

“When I got the free throw line [with 57.7 left in the fourth quarter], I said to myself, ‘please let me get past 22.’ When I hit them I was like, ‘yes!’” said Chambers.

The Rams move onto play Normal Community High School on Saturday at the When Side Collide Shootout at Benet Academy. Then it’s back into the Catholic League schedule with Montini and Leo next week.

DePaul Prep Handles Loyola 40-18

The DePaul Prep Rams are for real. They just keep passing test after test. The #9 ranked Rams (10-0, 2-0) defeated the #25 ranked Loyola Academy Ramblers (8-3, 1-2) 40-18 at DePaul Prep on Friday.

If defense is Loyola’s calling card, DePaul Prep handed it right back to them Friday night at DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym, and then some. The Ramblers has only managed to score nine points against the Rams until well into the fourth quarter. That’s not a typical high school even for the notoriously low scoring Catholic League games. The Ramblers managed to double that output in garbage time finishing with 18 points.

The Rams had struggled against the ‘Blers in recent years dropping four out of the last five games they have played with scores typically in the thirties and forties. Last year’s score was the lowest of the last five with a 39-36 Loyola win.

DePaul Prep’s man-to-man defense denied open shots to the Ramblers. Rams’ guards PJ Chambers, Makai Kvamme, Rob Walls and AJ Chambers were defending everything. The shots the Ramblers did manage to get up, didn’t fall. Rams forward Jaylan McElroy, Jonas Johnson and Rashawn Porter battle on the boards preventing easy second shots for the Ramblers.   

Junior forward Jonas Johnson led the scoring for the Rams with ten points including to three-pointers that lifted the Rams late in the first quarter. Senior guard PJ Chambers had nine points despite missing significant minutes because of some early foul trouble. Senior forward Jaylan McElroy finished with eight points.

The Chicago Catholic League Blue is largely regarded as the best conference in the state this year. Six of its nine teams have been ranked this year: # 4 Mount Carmel, #5 Brother Rice, #9 DePaul Prep, #13 DeLaSalle, #25 Loyola and formerly ranked St. Ignatius. The win over Loyola lifted the Rams to 2-0 in the conference. Mount Carmel and Brother Rice also remain undefeated in conference play with Friday night wins over St. Ignatius and DeLaSalle respectively.

“Lane was ranked in the pre-season. Lane tested us. Niles North tested us. Those teams are good. We haven’t been Catholic League tested. Loyola was on the road at Br. Rice. They were [tested] and we weren’t. I was nervous about that,” Rams’ head coach Tom Kleinschmidt said. His Rams passed the test handling the Ramblers like they haven’t in recent years.

Of his defense, Kleinschmidt said, “I think we switched up on them. We took them out of their first and second options. We stayed home on some shooters. The ball was not falling for them. We had a little bit to do with that. There we some shots that they would make on other teams.”

Loyola’s coach Tom Livatino is as good as it gets and dialed up the defense at the start of the second quarter going to his high-pressure trapping one-three-one defense.

“We had some unforced turnovers that we were not real happy with but the way we were guarding we forgave that a little bit,” Kleinschmidt continued. “We practiced the one-three-one. We have seen it on film and we were prepared for it.”

Coach Kleinschmidt was all business after the game with little time to celebrate a dominant Catholic League victory. That might have something to do with the fact that the Rams will face #6 ranked Bloom Township (5-2) on Sunday.

“They are big and strong. We haven’t watched them. We put all of our eggs in the Loyola basket. We will watch it tonight and tomorrow morning and then we will have practice. It’s the last game before [Christmas] break. We will go play our ass off and give it shot,” Kleinschmidt said of Bloom.

DePaul Prep Wins Battle of the Bridge Tournament with 67-50 Victory over Niles North

Defending 2A State Champions, the DePaul Prep Rams (4-0, 0-0) defeated the Niles North Vikings 67-50 in the championship game of the Battle of the Bridge Thanksgiving tournament at DePaul Prep Friday night.

The frustration on the face of Niles North coach Glenn Olson was palpable. His Vikings were close, but the DePaul Prep Rams were just too solid in every phase. Niles North has suffered four loses to DePaul Prep in the Battle of Bridge championship game dating back to 2016 and one in a semi-final.

A quick 6-0 lead for the Rams to open the first quarter was part of the formula for a Tom Kleinschmidt victory. Get lead in the first quarter, survive the inevitable bounce back, build the lead in the third quarter, handle the ball and make free throws to win. It was a textbook Tom Kleinschmidt win—even if it didn’t feel very safe and any point until the end.

The Rams can execute in every phase and did on Friday. They can run and score in transition. They can the drive the lane, taking it to the rim or hitting the floater. Rams’ junior guard Makai Kvamme has stepped up his game on the point taking over where graduated senior Maurice Thomas left off.

Senior guard PJ Chambers was scoring inside and out, leading all scorers with 20 points, even with being occasionally spelled by his little brother AJ Chambers. And we are not even talking about Jaylan McElroy yet. The big man got in a little foul trouble and spent the second quarter on the bench. No worries. Sophomore forward LaShawn Porter filled right in. Jaylan dominated the boards throughout and was money with the key free throws in the fourth quarter. Junior Jonas Johnson hit a three on the Rams 15-2 run late in the second quarter and some free throws at the end.

This year’s Battle of the Bridge Thanksgiving tournament was one of the early season’s marquis events featuring two ranked teams, #13 DePaul Prep and #20 Lane Tech. Niles North is right there too. In fact, the Vikings were singled out by Joe Henricksen of the City Suburban Hoops Report as a team likely to break into the Super 25.

“How many teams have the opportunity to play two ranked teams in two road games at a Thanksgiving tournament?” Olson said after the Lane game.

The other teams were Lane, Notre Dame, Englewood Stem, Francis Parker, Jones and Prosser.

The Lane Tech v. Niles North game played on Wednesday also a marquis matchup of excellent teams. A packed and noisy gym at Lane saw the Champions edged by the Vikings 63-61. Match up featured two top players in the area: Lane’s Shaheed Solebo and Niles North’s Yaris Irby.  

“The close of the second half was one of the best that I have seen. We wanted to spread them to get some fouls,” said Rams coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

The fourth quarter Rams defense particularly on Niles North star player Yaris Irby who had only two points just closed out the game.

“The constant pressure and switching [players to cover Irby] was part of it. We don’t put one guy on one guy where they both get tired. We kind of share the load. And I think that kind of help us in second halves. Everybody can guard whoever. They have to guard whoever. It keeps us fresh at the end of the game.

“That was fun and nerve-racking. I was never comfortable and never am.”

The Rams open Chicago Catholic League play on Thursday at St. Rita. The Rams then make their first appearance in the Chicago Elite Classic with a game on Friday, December 1, 2023, against neighbor Lane Tech at UIC’s Credit 1 Arena.

DePaul Prep Beats Fenwick 44-43 in Double Overtime

The biggest win in school history for DePaul Prep? It’s not Gordon Tech’s State Championship in 1980 but it sure feels like the biggest win for the new DePaul Prep Rams in ten years of being DePaul Prep.

The DePaul Prep Rams (4-4, 1-1 in CCL/ESCC Red) beat the Fenwick Friars (4-4, 1-1 in CCL/ESCC Orange) 44 to 43 in double overtime Friday night at DePaul Prep.  

In talking to some fans before the game, I asked, “How is Fenwick?’

“It’s Fenwick, but it not Fenwick Fenwick,” I was told.

 The Rams had a chance. And they believed. What’s new about this year is that they can score. They have big-play players. And they score a lot. In their last five games, they have scored 38, 28, 36, 35 and 44 points. I don’t know what Rams’ junior quarterback Fernando “JuJu” Rodriguez did over the summer but whatever it is, somebody should bottle it. His play at quarterback has improved 100%. His throws are on time and on target and the Rams are scoring.

Rams’ senior running back Titus Bautista provides the perfect counter-punch to Rodriguez big arm. Recievers Bradon Peevy, Michael Bloom and Jack West catch the ball and they are only juniors.

Even so, the Rams struggled in the first quarter playing the entire quarter in their own end. They gave up two early field goals and a touchdown falling behind 12-0. But actually it didn’t feel bad. The Rams can score quick and that they did.

On the first play of the second quarter, a perfectly executed screen pass to Bautista flipped the field position bringing the Rams from deep in their own end to the Fenwick redzone. A couple play later it was 12-7.

After having given up a field goal to the Friars with 6:14 to go in the fourth, the Rams trailed 23-29. They took over at their own 21 after Michael Bloom’s kickoff return. With third down and five on their own 26, a quick hitch from Fernandez to junior wide receiver Braden Peevy, then a lateral out to Bautista who sprinted out of the backfield and down the sideline to Fenwick’s 40 yard-line.

A fourth and five scramble by Rodriguez down to the 28-yard line kept the Rams alive. A couple plays later, another fourth down, still from the 28-yard line. This is the Rams’ shot. After coming so close against Providence, after giving late scores against Marian Catholic and being unable to score on a game ending driving, could the Rams make it happen? After years of incremental improvements and confidence building, could this be the hump the Rams get over?

With 4th and 10 and the game, the season and the future on the line, they stood there looking to the sideline for the play. The play clock ticked down; the Rams took the play and lined up. With Rams’ head coach Mike Passarella running down the sideline calling for a time out, the side judge blows his whistle as the Rams snap the ball.

Time out.

Back out on the field. 4th and 10 from the 28. The ball placed on the far hash mark. Senior wide receiver Michael Bloom split out to Rodriguez’s left. Junior Bradon Peevy to his right. Junior running back Nick Martinez in the slot left next to Bloom, junior Jack West in the wideside slot next to Peevy.

Will we look back on this play as the turning point for the football program, or will the losing continue?

Martinez goes in motion to wide side. Bloom launches up field and dips in toward the post, then bolts straight up the sideline past the Fenwick corner like he was standing still.

The offensive line pushes the four Fenwick pass rushers outside and Rodriguez moves up in the pocket. Fenwick’s stud defensive tackle Nate Marshall breaks back up the middle to meet JuJu and stop the pass. Rodriguez lets it fly. Bloom slows up to get the ball. He catches the game tying touchdown in the endzone just before the Fenwick corner can break up the pass.

Huge. Great call. Clutch throw. Tremendous catch. Touchdown Rams!

The game is tied. 

Of course, Fenwick gets a tremendous push up the middle and blocks the Rams extra point. Still tied with 2:03 to play.

Fenwick moves the ball into DePaul Prep territory and with two seconds on the clock, the Friars line up for a 40-yard field goal.

No good. To overtime we go all tied at 29.

Rams have it first from the 10 yard-line in the South end. They score, adding a PAT. Rams 36, Friars 29.

Now the Friars. They score adding a PAT. Double overtime. Rams 36, Friars 36.

Now the Friars have it again. They score adding the PAT. Friars 43, Rams 36.

I never doubted the Rams would score again. They had come too far. But how long could this go on? Titus Bautista around the right end on the first play. Friars 43, Rams 42.

Mike Passarella never hesitated. As soon as I looked back toward the sideline, after Bautista scored, Passarella was raising two fingers. They were going for two points to win the game.

Fenwick called a time out to talk it over.

Two-point conversion attempt from the 3. Peevy split right. Bloom split left. Three backs in the backfield with Rodriguez. Shot gun snap to Rodriguez who gets immediate pressure from his left. Peevy ducks inside into double coverage then slips back toward the sideline. Rodriguez, with a man on him, throws to Peevy breaking to the sideline. TOUCHDOWN. (2-point conversion really.) Rams win. Rams win!

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated Fenwick 44-43 drawing even on the year at 4 wins and 4 losses and chance to make the playoff with a win at DeLaSalle next Friday.

A huge win for a DePaul Prep Rams football team that hasn’t had much to celebrate in recent years. Bill Jeske didn’t know how long it has been since the Rams beat Fenwick. 20 years maybe. Former athletic director Paul Chabura confirmed that the last time DePaul Prep/Gordon Tech beat Fenwick was in 2000 in a Prep Bowl playoff.

“Final was 24-6. Scott Baum was the coach. The Rams came close a few times but that was the last win,” Chabura wrote.

The Rams have improved no doubt. The culture is back. The program is bursting at the seams. They just needed that turn the corner win.

The skies parted literally and figuratively for DePaul Prep football Friday with a huge signature Catholic League crossover win against the Fenwick Friars.

I guess we will have to see if it is the turning point it feels like.

Watch the game for yourself on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WE0YCfXubw

Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout 2023

Some think Memorial Day, Labor Day, Fourth of July are the best part of the summer. The truth is the best weekend of the summer is the Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout.

The 20th Annual Summer Shootout is the premiere summer “Live Period” event in the Chicago area. R-B coach Mike Reingruber and his staff put run a superb event, a well-oiled machine. Eighty high school teams from the area including two from the St. Louis area. The facilities make it easy to watch two games at a time; even the food is good.

It’s a little early to start writing about what teams are going to be the top going into the 23-24 season. The R-B is more about getting a look at emerging players and how teams have changed.

Whitney Young v. East St. Louis. The first game I saw was Whitney Young v. East St. Louis. The Dolphins reloaded and are led by junior forward Antonio Munoz who looked in fine form. Junior point guard Damajay Richardson impressed with some nice moves followed by long jumpers.

Lane Tech v. O’Fallon. Lane Tech v. Downers Grove South. Lane struggled in the first half against O’Fallon but the shots started to fall in the second half. The Champions definitely missed Dalton Scantlebury who did not play. On Friday, the Champions fell to O’Fallon 69-43. They rallied but lost in overtime to Downers Grove South 62-60.

Kenwood v. Oswego East. These are two really good teams. Kenwood got even better in recent days by landing Rivals #43 ranked player in the nation Davion Hannah. At least one report says Hannah is not fully committed to attending Kenwood. Nevertheless, he played for Kenwood today. Kenwood handled Oswego East 67-54 and then Rolling Meadows 77-56. Kenwood looks like the top Chicago Public League, at the R-B, in June.

Oswego East went on to top St. Charles East 68-48.

Simeon v. Marist. Last year’s number one area team, Simeon has a new coach and a whole to look. The Rubin brothers and hugely talented point guard Jalen Griffith have graduated. The Wolverines are smaller but very quick. Senior Rashad Mckinnie is back and played well today. So did senior point guard Jashon Liggett.

DePaul Prep v. Lindbloom. DePaul Prep v. Hillcrest. The Rams come into the R-B newly crowned IHSA 2A champions having graduated their leader Maurice Thomas and lost starting forward Payton Kamin to a prep school transfer, plus standout junior Jonas Johnson is out with an injury. Who was going to fill in? Rams’ junior guard Rob Walls stepped right in. So did sophomore RaShaun Porter. Despite being 2A State Champions, the Rams finished seventh in the Chicago Catholic League Blue with a 6-7 record.

Those who follow the Rams closely will recall that injuries deprived the Rams of two of their best players, Jaylan McElroy and Payton Kamin, for the bulk of conference play. The Rams look to return to top form and will compete for the top of the Chicago Catholic League Blue.

The Rams move up to 3A this year because of the schools ballooning enrollment, either that or the IHSA success factor having been to the State Finals three times in four tries including one championship. DePaul Prep expects an incoming freshman class of 315.

DeLaSalle v. Lyons Township. On Saturday, I wanted to see what Gary DeCesare was doing with his Meteors. They are big and athletic and seem to have picked up where they left off atop the Chicago Catholic League White standings.

St. Lawrence v. Schaumburg. Next over to the Field House to check out the second half of the St. Lawrence Vikings against Schaumburg’s Saxons. The Vikings expect to challenge the Meteors in the CCL White. Today, Byron Burt’s Vikings were led by former St. Rita head coach and now St. Lawrence assistant, Roshawn Russell. Coming with Russell from St. Rita was Nojus Indrusaitis. Nojus is the second ranked Illinois in Prep Hoops in the class of 2024. St. Lawrence is going to be very good and looked every bit the part against a good Schaumburg squad.

St. Ignatius v. Homewood-Flossmoor. It was a bit of an early day for me at the R-B, so this would be my last game of the day. I managed a quick word with the leader of the Pack, St. Ignatius coach Matt Martin. The Pack were a little depleted at this R-B with some players out injured and with others unavailable. Knowing that going in, I was struck by how quick the new group of wolves played. Quick up and down the court and moving the back around for the open shot.

The R-B always leaves one wanting more.

DePaul Prep Advanced to 2A State Championship Game with 45-17 Defensive Gem over Teutopolis

The DePaul Prep Rams are peaking at the best time of the season. They handled the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes 45-17 in the IHSA 2A semi-final in Champaign. I was told that 17 points is the lowest point total in IHSA playoff history. Teutopolis struggled to even get shots up. This was probably the Rams best performance of the year.

The Rams difficulties in the Chicago Catholic League, going 6-7 in the Blue, were clearly frustrating, even disconcerting, for the Rams and their fans.

“We got the injuries when we had Rita, Mount Carmel and DeLaSalle so we took our lumps early,” said DePaul head coach Tom Kleinschmidt. “But we learned from that. And now we are a little bit seasoned.”

Advancing in such dominant fashion to the state championship game must be satisfying, even vindicating, for the Rams. But even more than that, the Rams and their coach Tom Kleinschmidt clearly want it. They are driven to get this championship.

The defensive effort of the Rams, particularly in the second half, was something really special--truly a historic defensive effort. Teutopolis did not score in the fourth quarter. Their seventh and final point came midway through the third quarter.

“We executed our game plan. We fronted the post on the big. We wanted to turn them into passers with back side help. We shaded [Teutopolis’s Brayden Niebrugge and Garrett Gaddis]. We wanted to make the other guys score on us. [Teutopolis’s James Niebrugge, Brayden’s cousin] hurt us,” Kleinschmidt continued.

“We wanted to run that clock in the fourth quarter. So we called a longer set. We wanted to take a minute and a half [off the clock with every possession] and have them chase us. We wanted to wear them down where they had to chase and foul. And then we could do what we did, flash and get back door cuts.”

DePaul’s senior guard Maurice Thomas nearly beat Teutopolis himself with sixteen points. Junior forward Jaylan McElroy had ten points. PJ Chambers with seven. Payton Kamin with six. Jonas Johnson and Henry West each with exclamation point buckets at the end. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention senior Dane Barkley’s beautiful no look assist to Henry West with 1:12 left.

The Rams advance to face the Bloomington Central Catholic Saints on Saturday in the 2A state championship game at 12:45.

Be careful what you wish for. Bloomington Central Catholic defeated Rockridge 57-44 in the other semi-final. The Saints have Cole Certa. Certa finished with nineteen points, sixteen of which came in the second half. If you have not heard of Certa, you soon will. The heavily recruited junior guard is the third highest rated 2024 prospect in Illinois behind only St. Rita’s Morez Johnson and James Brown.

Stay tuned. The Rams will have to duplicate, or maybe improve their defensive effort to bring home the school’s first basketball state championship.

DePaul Prep Falls to Mount Carmel 42-41

Preview of my Inside Publications article this week.

No. 17 Mount Carmel defeats DePaul Prep 42-41

DePaul Prep Rams lost to Mount Carmel Caravan 42-41 at Mount Carmel Friday night. The Rams are struggling through an uncharacteristic three-game losing streak in the Chicago Catholic League’s Blue division.

 The Rams (4-3, 0-3) opened the game outscoring the 17th ranked Caravan (7-1, 2-0) five to zero. The Caravan then went on a 10-0 run to close the quarter. They would hold the lead that eventually dwindled to a single point at the buzzer to survive a young and injured Rams team.

The early run by the Caravan was aided by some sloppy Rams ball handling. “They picked us up a little bit, trapped us a couple times when we were lazy with the ball. We have bad habits in practice right now in passing. They are leading to the game,” said Rams head coach and former DePaul University star Tom Kleinschmidt.

The young Rams start three sophomores, center Jonas Johnson, guard Makai Kvamme and guard Rob Walls, one junior, PJ Chambers and one senior, guard and leading scorer Maurice Thomas. Out with injuries for the moment are junior standouts and returning starters Payton Kamin and Jaylan McElroy.

Despite the Rams having two of their best players on the court, they opened the season 4-0 winning the Battle of the Bridge Tournament hosted by DePaul Prep along with Lane Tech. Catholic League Blue conference play has been a different story. Coming into this game, the Rams were on a two-game losing streak in the conference play dropping games to St. Lawrence and DeLaSalle.

There are encouraging signs for the Rams. Mount Carmel’s transfer Lee Marks emerged as a force for the Caravan at last weekend’s Chicago Elite Classic. The Rams shut him down. “We scouted him pretty well. Our gap defense shut his driving lanes down a little bit. We did a nice job keeping him off the boards. He is a fantastic rebounder. He had seventeen rebounds against Laurence,” said Kleinschmidt.

The Caravan never blow the game wide open. The largest lead they managed was seven points. Then curiously, early in the third quarter, Caravan head coach Phil Segorves slowed down the pace of game. At one point midway through the fourth quarter, Caravan point guard Deandre Craig put the ball on his hip in classic style and waited for the Rams to come out and defend.

 “I think they wanted to pull us out and get us in the bonus. [Deandre] Craig is one of the two or three best point guards in the league. I think [Mount Carmel head coach Phil Segorves] wanted to put the ball senior point guard’s hands and control the game, get fouls and go to the line,” Kleinschmidt added.

The Rams chiseled away at the Caravan lead making it a one possession game for the last couple minutes. Only a questionable turn over call and foul pushed the lead to four. The Rams made it a one-point game with a three before the buzzer.

The fact that the young Rams can play with the seventh ranked CCL powerhouse Caravan has to be encouraging for Rams fans. This adversity early in the season is going to help them when they get their scorers back. “1000%. Everybody is getting minutes. This time that they are getting you normally can’t get it. And they are playing well. We are stretching our bench. When we get everybody back, we will be in good shape,” said Kleinschmidt.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire for the young Rams who host 5th ranked St. Rita Mustangs next Friday the DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym on Friday. St. Rita will be riding high after defeating the 6th ranked and previously unbeaten Brother Rice Crusaders 57-51 at Brother Rice.

DePaul Prep Rams Ready Open Season

“Last year, we didn’t know how to win yet,” said fourth year DePaul Prep head football coach Mike Passarella.

 “Not a push over anymore,” Passarella continued. “Everyone is taking us seriously this year.”

 The DePaul Prep Rams are coming off a disappointing 2-7 season after being on the cusp of turning around the program.

“The goal is to win a playoff game,” Passarella said. That will take at least three more wins. Those wins are out there. Since the closing of St. Joseph, DePaul Prep has played three non-conference games instead of the usual two games to open the season. The Rams have added Chicago Hope Academy this year. Chicago Hope could be another win. And with a victory of over Marian Central Catholic, plus an upset victory over the “mighty, mighty” St. Viator Lions (a play on the St. Viator fight song) and with the strength of schedule points and our Rams probably make the playoffs.

The Rams schedule has changed significantly. Ridgewood and Lena-Winslow are out. Amundsen and Chicago Hope Academy are in. Plus, this year there are only two teams in the CCL/ESCC conference’s Red Division—DePaul Prep and Leo. Marian Central Catholic in Woodstock left the conference and went independent but remains on the schedule.

Circle September 16th on your calendar. The Rams take on the Leo Lions for the CCL/ESCC Red Division championship game. With just two teams in the division, this game will decide who’s champ. Leo and DePaul Prep are developing quite a rivalry in the recent months. DePaul Prep defeated Leo in the 2A basketball super-sectional to earn a trip to Champaign for the 2A state basketball finals.

The future is definitely bright for the DePaul Prep’s football program. The school’s enrollment has just dramatically increased in recent years. This year’s enrollment is up to 1086. With construction of a new wing of classrooms beginning shortly on the campus, enrollment is expected to top out at 1400, roughly the same as St. Ignatius. The Rams are currently 3A for football but an enrollment of 1200 will soon put bump DePaul Prep up two classes into 5A.

Along with the jump in enrollment comes a whole new crop of athletes. The Rams plan the start a sophomore quarterback, Fernando “JuJu” Rodriguez. Also, on offense is senior offensive lineman Emmett Jeske, son of former head coach and Gordon Tech legend, Bill Jeske. Junior offensive tackle Eric Timbo is expected to impress and land some offers from NCAA Division One schools.

At the skill positions, junior wide receiver Lavelle Hardy returns to lead the receiving corps. Hardy is also expected to receive Division One offers and score a lot of touchdowns. Senior wide receiver (and varsity basketball player) Henry West, in his first year of football, will also play wide out. Senior Shane Leonard will also play in Coach Passarella’s receiver heavy spread offense spread offense.

Gordon Tech legend Gary Anish, Jr., has been elevated to defensive coordinator. His defense will be led by senior defensive ends Oliver Vigorest and Dane Barkley (also a basketball player). Defensive standouts junior middle linebacker Griffin Horne and Danny Kelly as well has junior cornerback Jonathan Perez will lead a young and talented defense.

The season starts tomorrow at 7:00 p.m., with a home game against Walter Payton College Prep. Should be a fun game between two teams on the rise.

DePaul Prep Rams practice read option Wednesday at DePaul Prep

2022 Riverside Brookfield Summer Shootout Opens

The 19th Annual Riverside Brookfield Summer Shootout opened this afternoon. It felt good to be back. Not very many teams from my coverage area are in the tournament. It’s basically, just Lane, Lincoln Park and DePaul Prep. So I could get to see some other teams.

Lake Forest v. St. Rita. The first game I saw was Lake Forest v. St. Rita. I got a look at Asa Thomas and Nojus Indrusaitis. They are as advertised. The Mustangs did not have their big men but they didn’t seem to need them. St. Rita is going to be something to watch this year. The Chicago Catholic League Blue will be loaded.

Lane v. St. Ignatius. Shaheed Solebo looked bigger, faster and stronger. He is only a junior but the “Champions” are his team. Lane jumped out to a big early lead. Ignatius came around and gained the lead at 12:11 in the second half and would not give it up. Richard Barron and Jackson Kotecki were too much for the Champions. St. Ignatius 57, Lane Tech 54.

Lane did not fair much better against Burlington Central in their second game. It was my first look at Burlington Central. They can play. Burlington Central 56, Lane Tech 46.

Matt Monroe’s Wolfpack, fresh off a 3A Third Place finish last year, brings back some key players from his historic year, Richard Barron, Jackson Kotecki and Emmitt O’Shaughnessy. I got my first look at sophomore Phoenix Gill. Gill looks like he will fill in nicely for A. J. Redd. Oh, and the Wolfpack will be in the CCL Blue this year.

Glenbard West v. Tinley Park. Glenbard West dominated last year. I got my first look at them at R-B last year. They were the talk of the event then and went on to win 4A. How would there team be this year? Last year’s leader and putative point guard Caden Pierce, now graduated, was on the bench for support. But let’s just say they are not last year’s team. Not the same length on defense. Not any length on defense. Athletic, well coached but not the same team.

St. Laurence v. Morton. St. Lawrence looks good. Very athletic. The coach I was sitting next thought there are a year away.

Mount Carmel v. St. Viator. The Caravan’s junior forward Angelo Ciarovino was the player to watch. He had some early points and one sequence of two straight blocks. Deandre Craig impressed as well.

More tomorrow including DePaul Prep and Lincoln Park. Get there early. Parking is tough.

Riverside Brookfield Summer Shootout Preview

By Jack Lydon

Riverside Brookfield Summer Shootout is the start of basketball season, for me at least. And so it begins.  R-B and its driving force Mike Reingruber, will host 72 “top area teams” on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Play opens Friday at noon with games across six courts. The complete Friday and Saturday schedule is available here. Sunday here.

72 area high schools will participate along with several from the St. Louis area—Belleville Althoff, Belleville East, Belleville West, East St. Louis and O’Fallon. As for the top teams, who know who those teams are at the moment?

There are a number powerhouses from last year, such as 4A State Champion Glenbard West, 1A State Champion Yorkville Christian, 4A runner-up Whitney Young, 3A third-place St. Ignatius, 3A fourth place Simeon, 2A third place DePaul Prep.

But that was last year, star seniors have moved on to college programs, the new senior class comes front and center.

I have learned over several years going to R-B that these games are not regular high school games. It like the summer leagues where one gets a glimpse of the new starters playing offense and not a ton of defense. I got to see the highly-touted young players about to make there impact.

To the untrained eye, R-B can look like just another basketball tournament. So I am doing some research to find out who to watch. This year’s top seniors at R-B include Darrin Ames (Kenwood), Asa Thomas (Lake Forest), Cameron Christie (Rolling Meadows), Dalen Davis (Whitney Young) and Miles and Wesley Rubin (Simeon). There are a good number of juniors to see at R-B that will impact there teams and conference play including James Brown (St. Rita), Morez Johnson (St. Rita), Jaden Smith (Kenwood), Payton Kamin (DePaul Prep), Jaylen McElroy (DePaul Prep) and Shaheed Solebo (Lane Tech).

As for what teams to keep and I eye, I am of course interested in the teams in my coverage area, Lane Tech, Lincoln Park and DePaul Prep. The freshly re-named Lane Tech “Campions” will feature junior standout Shabeed Solebo. Lincoln Park looks to overtake Lane as the top northside school in CPS’s tough Red-West/North division under third-year coach Antwon Jennings. Tom Kleinschmidt reloads after another historic state playoff run with emerging stars Payton Kamin, Jaylen McElroy. DePaul Prep’s sophomore Jonas Johnson will be fun to watch too.

Then there are top teams to look at and see what they have coming back. I don’t do rankings. Understand, I typically cover Chicago Catholic League and Chicago Public League games. I get out to some ESCC and Evanston games when I can. These are a mix of top teams from last year and teams that I have seen over the past few years that are on the rise. So in no particular order:

Glenbard West. It should be interesting to see what Glenbard West can do after its historic season. Can Jason Opoka recreate the defensive length of Pierce, Huff, Durkin, Renfro and Warden?

Leo. After winning the Chicago Catholic League last year but losing the 2A Super-Sectional to CCL rival DePaul Prep, the Lions look to take another step. With returning stars Jared Gee, Tyler Smith and Jakeem Cole, Jarrod Gee and Tyler Smith, the Lions should be ready to make another deep run.

St. Rita. Is this the year for the Mustangs to bolt to top of the Catholic League Blue and makes it past Kenwood and Whitney Young in 4A? With two top ranked players, James Brown and Morez Johnson, the Mustangs their best chance in years. But will it be enough?

St. Ignatius. Coming out of the gate last season with a #4 Sun-Times ranking, he Wolfpack were in the spotlight. Some early season struggles with character building last second losses got them ready for a deep run in 3A and a third in State finish. Matt Monroe brings back key players Richard Barron and Jackson Kotecki. Even with the graduation of A. J. Redd, the Wolfpack should be very good and highly ranted.

DePaul Prep. And then there is DePaul Prep. After the 2020 COVID season, he Rams lost all five starters including standout and recent transfer to U. C. Davis, TY Johnson. Nevertheless, Tom Kleinschmidt plugged in recent Cleveland State re-commit Dylan Arnett, Trevon Thomas, sophomore standouts Payton Kamin and Jaylen McElroy, Julian Green and Anthony Gutierrez. That group battled in the CCL Blue and ran through 2A dropping Orr, Michelle Clark and Leo to make it to Champaign finishing third.

That was last year. This year is up to the still very young Rams, including Kamin and McElroy, Will O’Shields, Maurice Thomas and perhaps highly regarded sophomore Jonas Johnson. No easy road for the Rams in the CCL Blue with St. Rita, Mt. Carmel, Brother Rice, Leo and the always tough Loyola Ramblers.   

Kenwood. Then there is the Chicago Public League. Kenwood made believers out of me. I saw them handle Curie at Curie. Highly rated Darrin Ames and Davius Loury return. Expect Kenwood to be at or near the top of the Red-South/Central in February and highly ranked to start the season.  

Whitney Young. Whitney Young is Whitney Young. Dalen Davis and Marcus Pigram return. Tyrone Slaughter will reload and be back.

Simeon. It will be a fun season with Robert Smith’s victory lap. We will get a look at Simeon as the Wolverines take on DePaul Prep at 3:30 on Friday at R-B. Aviyon Morris, Jalen Griffith, Wesley Rubin and Miles Rubin return. This group will want to win for their legendary coach’s final tour.

So there you go, a look at a few teams that will play at R-B. Get out there early. Parking is . . . difficult.

Correction. I previously identified Timothy Christian’s Ben Vanderwall as Yorkville Christian’s Jaden Schutt. Yorkville Christian was not at the 2021 Riverside Brookfield Shootout. My apologies.

Timothy Christian’s Ben Vanderwall at 2021 Riverside Brookfield Summer Shootout

DePaul Prep Going Downstate after 50-43 Victory over Leo

The DePaul Prep Rams (25-5) defeated the Leo Lions (25-5) 50-43 in overtime at Joliet Central High School on Monday evening to punch their ticket to the IHSA 2A State Finals starting Thursday.

The Rams graduated all five seniors after last year’s COVID season that saw the Rams end the season ranking #1. That meant five new starters including two sophomores, Jaylan McElroy and Payton Kamin, that would lead this year’s Rams. It was those sophomores that stepped up when it counted in overtime against 6th ranked Chicago Catholic League champs Leo to send the Rams to Champaign.

Leo came out of the gate in the first quarter hitting on all cylinders. Their full court press stymied the Rams forcing turnover that turned into points. Leo star player Cam Cleveland hit outside shots. The Lions crashed the boards. It was all Leo, in all phases. 22-7 at the end of the first quarter.

That’s actually been a thing lately. Orr had a lead. Clark had a lead. The Rams have just been starting slow.  

But star they did. A quick three to open the second quarter and it continued. The Rams outscored Leo 14-5 in second quarter making it 27-21 Leo at the half. It had turned into a game, anybody’s to win.

 It was the third quarter that turned the game around. The Rams turned up the defense, cut down on the turnovers and hit shots outscoring the Lions 12 to 3 in the third going into the fourth quarter with a 33-30 lead.

 When the Rams get a lead, even a small one, they are tough to overcome. But the sixth ranked Lions are no ordinary team. The Lions rallied, tying the score at 39 with 1:09 to play.

DePaul Prep’s star center Dylan Arnett picks up two questionable charging calls in quick succession and fouled out.

“That’s the first time I have fouled out this year,” Dylan Arnett said.

“You can’t really argue with the refs. If they make the call, they make the call. You just have to dial back the aggressiveness a little bit and play as hard as you can.”

“When Dylan fouled out, I just knew I had to rebound and box out and help my team win,” DePaul Prep sophomore Payton Kamin said.

McElroy too was matter of fact about the end of the game. When Dylan fouled out, “I had no other choice. It was either that or go home. I choose to stay,” said McElroy.

1:09 to play, tied at 39 and Leo had the ball.

DePaul’s senior guard Julian Green came back in for Arnett. This was the time for the sophomores to step up. 6’9” sophomore Payton Kamin moved down low on boards to fill-in for Arnett. The Rams defense held. The Lions failed to get up a shot to win the game.

Overtime.

Five straight points from Jaylan McElroy—including a huge breakaway dunk—to open the four-minute overtime put the Rams ahead for good.

The “hail mary” pass off the inbound was a designed inbound play. “Coach wrote it up perfectly for me to go down there and get it. I just got it,” McElroy said.

The sophomores picked up their team. They did what needed to be done. They lived up to standards set by last year’s five seniors that won it all.

How did they do it?

“Defense. We gave up twenty-eight points in the first half. We give up thirty-three a game. We gave up three in the third quarter and then we got on the glass,” DePaul Prep coach Tom Kleinschmidt said after the game.

“As bad as we played in the first half, we missed six or seven free throws. If we make half of those, it’s a three-point game. We went in the locker room happy down six nothing.”

 “A big part of it was our two sophomores Jaylan and PK. They did a great job on the boards being really physical. They really stepped up today.”

Next will be Nashville at 4:00 p.m., on Thursday in State Finals at the University of Illinois’ State Farm Center in Champaign.

“I haven’t thought about [where we go from here]. We will find out who we are playing. We have tape on everybody. We will go home tonight and cut it up. And then we will have a good game plan tomorrow and practice. Then walk through and then we will go,” Kleinschmidt said after winning the Super-sectional.

“Thirty-two years ago, I was down there playing as a junior so I am looking forward to that.”