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 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

DePaul Prep Drops Latin 58-30 for Seventh Straight Regional

Electricity was in air in the Tom Winiecki Gym on Friday night. There was a large crowd, an overflow student second curiously attired in beach wear.

Latin didn’t get the memo. Teams like this always worry me. I remember a couple losses to Francis Parker in years past. I hoped it would not all go horrible wrong after such a successful 23-5 season.

Tom Kleinschmidt wrote the memo so he wouldn’t let anything go wrong.

The Romans came out with a ton of energy. They have some athletes who scored early. The Rams length on defense proved difficult for the undersized Romans to overcome. The Rams opened an early lead that just widened as the clock ticked off.

DePaul Prep has won regional championship for the last seven year: 2015 over North Chicago, 2016 over Northridge Prep, 2017 over Latin, 2018 over Foreman, 2019 over Ridgewood, 2020 over Farragut and this year over Latin again. This is a testament to the successful program the school and its coaches have built.

Now we are talking about sectional wins not just regionals. And talking about the state tournament. Which brings us to the upcoming games. The Rams will have to get through the best 2A teams in the state to get back downstate—Orr, Clark and Leo. If they can do that, they will deserve to be state champs.

One at a time. Orr on Tuesday at Collins (North Lawndale Sectional). 7:00 p.m. The light in that gym is miserable.

I went a little crazy taking pictures on Friday. I processed like a hundred photos. These are the game photos. I will have to do a post for the rest of the photos, which frankly are better than these.

High School Sports are Back, Almost

The Illinois High School Association announced Wednesday that high school sports may resume practices immediately and games may start as early as next week. However, exactly when games will start in Chicago has yet to be determined. Games may not resume until Chicago moves into “Phase 4” of COVID restrictions.

Even in areas of the State already in Phase 4, basketball games may not start until teams complete seven days of practice. Under previously released Illinois Department of Public Health guidelines, practices could have started last week. Games will not start in Chicago until the State of Illinois moves Region 11 (Chicago) moves out of “tier 1” and into Phase 4. The move to Phase 4 depends upon a number of factors related to infection rate and hospitalization rate.

Games are limited to schools within the same state “region” established for COVID purposes. The City of Chicago is one such region. Suburban Cook County is another. The new IHSA plan allows for games between teams of the same region and teams within the same conference regardless of region.

While all CPS teams are obviously in the same region and can play one another, a CPS school would not be allowed to play a suburban team. In contrast, the Chicago Catholic League has city and suburban schools. Catholic League teams will be allowed to play each other but not public schools in another region. For instance, St. Ignatius (Chicago) could play Loyola Academy (Wilmette) but not Evanston.

The exact number of basketball games allowed by the IHSA is not limited, just the date by which the season must end, March 13. “The number of basketball games is a local decision,” IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said in Wednesday’s press conference. Schools and conferences will be allowed to set the number of games played. Anderson said that the number of games will have to be weighed against other academic and health related considerations.

The Chicago Catholic League released its schedule of mens basketball games. The 15-game season will start on Monday, February 8th and then the following Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until March 12th. Each team will be 7 games within their division and 8 “crossover” games against teams from the other division. The CCL has a rule that only home fans will be allowed to attend games.

Lane Tech Athletic Director and head men’s basketball coach Nick LoGalbo is not optimistic that games at Lane Tech will start anytime soon. “No matter the IHSA does, for us, everything is dependent on [CPS],” LoGalbo said. LoGalbo does not know what CPS will approve or when the approval will be forthcoming.

Nevertheless, CPS athletic directors are working on a schedule to play teams within each division in order to be ready. “We are looking at playing two to three games a week within each division,” LoGalbo said. “Plus some non-conference games.”

Current IDPH rules limit spectators at public indoor events to 50 people. The IHSA’s interpretation of the 50-person limit excludes players and school staff. It is unclear how schools will handle admitting spectators.

As for spectators at games, LoGalbo was not optimistic. “CPS may not allow spectators at all. Bank on nobody.” Lane is working on a plan to stream all games on the Internet.

Lane Tech womens basketball head coach Megan Molloy did not have much information about the plan going forward. “I have been meeting with my team over Google classroom and Google meets but that is about it,” Molloy said.

“Getting started again is going to be challenging. It is going to be hard. I am just going to tell my team that we are going to have to make the most of what we can do; we’ll have to take advantage of the time we have. That will be a good thing,” Molloy said.

The scheduling of back-to-back games varsity and sophomore games will be problematic. IDPH rules require the proper cleaning of the facility between such games. We may not see sophomore games immediately followed by varsity games.

Interestingly, health department rules require players must wear masks during games. Game rules will be modified slightly to provide one minute long socially distanced “mask breaks” when players can take off their masks and get a drink of water. There will be one such break during each quarter of the game.

High school football teams can begin practicing March 3rd. Games can begin March 19th and the season runs until April 24th. That leaves enough time for six games. There will be no state playoffs.

Athletes will be allowed to play multiple sports but the transition for playing basketball to football will require some extra football practice time for football players going right from basketball to football. Such players will need to participate in a couple practices in helmets and pads before being eligible to play in games.

The Chicago Catholic League/East Suburban Catholic League collaboration for football released its schedule. Each team will play 6 games, 3 against the other division teams and three crossovers. DePaul Prep will play Carmel Catholic, Marion Catholic and St. Joseph at home and Leo, Providence Catholic and Joliet Catholic on the road.

Traditional spring sports such as baseball, softball, lacrosse, girl soccer, etc., will begin practices on April 5th with the season ending on June 19th. Those sports will be afforded longer seasons because of the loss of last terms entire season.

The IHSA will not be mandating any COVID testing of athletes. “We have received no information from the Department of Public Health that would require [testing] of our students to be engaged in either practice of competition. While schools are obviously welcome to have testing if they have resources to do it,” Anderson said.

Lane Tech’s Sean Molloy (middle) rebounding in last season’s game against Oak Park-River Forest.

Lane Tech’s Sean Molloy (middle) rebounding in last season’s game against Oak Park-River Forest.

DePaul Prep Football Waits . . .

As we were coming out of the depths of the COVID shutdown, I started planning for high school sports again. DePaul Prep was moving into a new school building and building a new football stadium. I thought I would, and still will, fully document/photograph the first game and the first season in the new stadium.

When the Governor and the IHSA moved the bulk of high school sports to the Spring, my plans changed. The Fall practices were a chance to take some photos, see the new state-of-art DePaul Prep stadium and have the players and coaches get used to having me around so I am not such a distraction when play begins.

I would like to thank DePaul Athletic Director Pat Mahoney and Head Coach Mike Passarella for graciously inviting me in and for being so accommodating. And a special thanks to the young men who carry on the proud tradition of Gordon Tech/DePaul Prep football.

As always, Go Rams!

These are some of my photos.

DePaul Prep Football Pre-Preview

“This season is going to be different for the DePaul Prep Rams.” That was how I was going to start this piece before the IHSA’s announcement Wednesday. Now, that opening sentence seems an unfunny understatement.

I originally planned this article as a preview of the historic upcoming season football. New stadium. New uniforms. New school building. Friday night games. But all our plans are constantly overtaken by events, so here we are.

On Wednesday, the IHSA announced that football is classified a “higher risk” sport and its season has been postponed until Spring. Practices can begin on February 15, 2021. The season will have seven games running from March 5, 2021, to April 16, 2021. There will only be time for two weeks of playoffs after that. So no big state tournament. The format has yet to be announced.

The IHSA issued a new plan for all interscholastic competition for this coming school year. All the details of the plan is a little beyond our purpose here but can be found at the IHSA website.

DePaul Prep head football coach Mike Passarella has been making preparations over the summer for the upcoming season as the guidelines evolved. Summer camp practices have been underway at Horner Park which are now basically over. No further practices are anticipated until September when the IHSA will allow a further 20 days no-contact practices.

“I am really happy the IHSA thought outside the box and didn’t just shut everything done,” said Passarella. “I have been preaching to the boys to do their part. Be smart and we will have football this year.” At the moment, it looks like that may still happen, just in the Spring.

Perhaps the biggest changes, other all this COVID business, are the new school campus and the new home football stadium. This writer feared that football might be on its way out as a high school sport at DePaul. Well, with the prominence of the football field and stadium in the center of the new campus, we don’t have to worry about that. Having such a beautiful new stadium clearly signals a commitment to football and surely will attract prospective students who want to play football.

The Rams will also have new helmets and uniforms. The helmets will be white. The familiar ram horns will be replaced by the new “D” logo in keeping with the rebranding by the school. The rebranding retired the Gordon Tech (Tennessee) orange in favor of a “Chicago flag” blue and red color scheme.

Last year’s team posted a record of three wins and six losses including a brutal six game Catholic League losing streak. Last season was the first for the newly combined East Suburban Catholic Conference and the Chicago Catholic League. The realignment into six divisions didn’t help the Rams improve their record.

This year’s schedule will only be conference games: Carmel, @Leo, St. Laurence, Marian Catholic, @Providence, @Joliet Catholic and St. Joseph. The schedule is tough. Even so, the future is bright. Thirty-four freshman have come out for football. The school’s overall enrollment is on track to basically double in coming years. A new stadium, a commitment to football and increased enrollment will bring improvement. Basketball came ramming back to prominence; football is not far behind.

In addition to the new school, new stadium, new practice rules and new uniforms, DePaul Prep Athletics’ website is getting a makeover. Moving away from 8to18.com, assistant athletic Director Sammy Colon has been spearheading development of the revamped athletics portion of the school website, https://www.depaulprep.org/athletics/home.

The new website will exist directly on the school’s website and boast an updated interface with photos and easy reference to schedules.  il.8to18.com/DePaulPrep is still up but presumably will not be kept current. It is still valuable resource for finding results from previous season for those looking for blogging about high school sports, which is always important.

With football moved to the spring, I guess that makes this basketball season . . . . . . . Nice!

DePaul Prep Football Field.jpg

IHSA Boys Playoff Weekend Recap

We are a week separated from the IHSA 3A and 4A Boys Playoffs now and I am now getting around to the recap. I spent last Friday and Saturday in Peoria photographing as many games as I could.

I found out one cannot photograph and process all the games in real time. Two games per day is about all I can do and get galleries and stories up on a timely fashion.

As for the games themselves, they did not disappoint. Well, except for the first game, where m y DePaul Prep lost to Bogan. The Rams had good shots early but they would not fall. Credit to Bogan. They put on a stellar defense effort basically shutting down everyone on DePaul except Perry Cowen. After that East St. Louis impressed against a tough and scrappy Peoria Manual team in a very entertaining battle.

4A was especially fun. I have seen Evanston five times this year and a couple times last year. Very good and entertaining team. Extremely well coached. Sr. guard Jaheim Holden has to be one of the most exciting players I have seen in the past few years. The Wildkits handles Rochford East who I had not seen. Evanston posses so many matchup problems. Rockford constantly lost track of sophomore Blake Peters and he made them pay. Peters was 7 for 8 from beyond the arc—just deadly.

Then the biggest game of the season so far, Curie v. Beilleville West. E.J. Liddell is better than advertised. Gonna be star at the next level. He has it all. Curie lost composure at the end. The Condors just ran out magic and one by one their best players fouled out.

DePaul Prep refocused and came out wanting to end the season with a win in the 3A Third Place game on Saturday morning. They did just that, soundly defeating a Peoria Manuel team that did not want to be there.

Frankly, I was busy working on photos of the DePaul v. Manuel game and I didn’t see much of the 4A Third Place game. As I recall, Curie won but what I remember is that they didn’t want to be there eight.

Then the premier Evanston v. Belleville West 4A Championship on Saturday night. What a game! It was tough for the Maroons to matchup against Evanston early. The Wildkits came out running and opened a seven point half time lead. As good as the Wildkits looked, Belleville West was playing Evanston’s game and stayed right with the Kits. One just got the feeling at the half that the Maroons would overcome.

That they did. No three pointers for Blake Peters. E.J. Liddell got the ball inside and either scored or dished it off for an easy backdoor bucket. The Maroons overcame and pulled away. It was quite a show.

And then, all the sudden, it was over. Time to go back to Chicago. It just left me wanting more.

Thanks to all for another wonderful high school basketball season. The R-B summer tournament will be here soon. Then the Thanksgiving tournaments. See you then.

As for the photos, these are a few good ones I got over both days. I hope you like them.

De La Salle Handles DePaul Prep, 40-22

The DePaul Prep Rams faced the De La Salle Meteors at DePaul’s new home field, Chicago Academy, 3400 N. Austin. The noon game at that field makes for good photos. It didn’t work out too well for the Rams. The gave up the first 40 points then scored the final 22. De La Salle just proved a little to big and fast for the Rams.  

It was a great day to take photos. I noticed that the autofocus setting was reacting really slow. I need to work on adjusting the setting. Canon autofocus is so good. I must have work on that. Small issue but I can do better. The settings are so robust there is a better why.

Football is winding down. Playoffs are coming up. Looking forward to that.

Hope you like the photos.

Marian Catholic Wins IHSA 3A 3rd Place over North Chicago 58-48

Third Place games never very interesting. I didn't even watch the 4A third place game. I shot this game mostly because I was there. It was a well played game. North Chicago rebounded from its historically poor shooting performance in Friday's semi-final. Marian Catholic made a case for being the second best 3A team.