Morgan Park Falls to St. Francis in 5A Quarterfinal

In a game marred by constant penalties, the last remaining Chicago Public League team, the Morgan Park Mustangs, fell to the St. Francis Spartans 37-14 in IHSA 5A quarterfinals Saturday.

Turnovers and penalties throttled the Mustangs in the first half. The Mustangs had a sixty-two touchdown called back. On the next play, Morgan Park QB Marcus Thaxton throw a side arm pass late down the middle of the field. A big no-no. St. Francis easily picked it off. The Spartans worked the ball down to the Morgan Park nine yard-line and scored on a quick slant to the slot receiver, senior wide receiver Ian Willis. Even so, it was 13-8 St. Francis until late in the second quarter.

Morgan Park (10-1, 7-0) came into the game as the 4 seed with a 10-1 overall record. Its only loss this year was to second ranked Mount Carmel 22-12 in week two.

The Mustangs were 7-0 in the Chicago Public Leagues’ new super-conference, the new Red Division. Before the season, CPS Sports Administration combined the top teams in the Red Division into one sixteen team super-conference. Seven other teams from the conference made the IHSA playoffs the season, Whitney Young, Kenwood, Amundsen, Lane, Simeon, Phillips and Taft. Morgan Park was the last surviving team. It was Morgan Park’s twenty-fifth appearance in the IHSA football playoffs since 1985.

St. Francis in Wheaton came into the game on a hot streak. After getting pummeled 47-0 by Loyola in early October, the Spartans have put together a four-game win streak at the right time. The Spartans come out of the Orange Division of the CCL/ESCC joint Catholic Conference in football this year. The Orange also has two other surviving playoff teams, IC Catholic Prep and Nazareth Academy.

St. Francis is no stranger to playoff football having qualified sixteen time since 1997, winning a state championship in 2005 and advancing to the 4A semifinal game last year.

The game turned late in the first half with St. Francis quarterback Alessio Milivojevic’s eleven-yard touchdown run.

“I like getting hit once or twice on a run. Then I get locked in, clicked in,” said St. Francis senior quarterback and Ball State recruit Alessio Milivojevic. It was the Milivojevic’s 11-yard touchdown run sparked his game on Saturday. Sun-Times Reporter Michael O’Brien captured a video and included it in his Twitter feed. https://twitter.com/michaelsobrien/status/1723424427335925919

After the Milivojevic’s touchdown to make the game 19-8, Morgan Park’s quarterback gave up another interception with under a minute to go. The Spartans worked their way down the short field for a twenty-two yard field goal making the half time score 22-8.

In the second half, Morgan Park scored on a quick bubble screen out to senior wide receiver and Montana recruit Chris Dorr who took it up the sideline 40 yards for the score.

But the second half was just about St. Francis and Milivojevic being able to drive the ball with the run and the pass. Morgan Park gave up two more touchdowns and fell 37-14.

St. Francis advances to play conference rival Nazareth next Saturday in the 5A semi-final. Curiously, the two other surviving 5A teams, Joliet Catholic and Providence Catholic, are also from the CCL/ESCC conference.

Lane Beats Amundsen 7-3 for Northside Bragging Rights; Both Move on to IHSA Playoffs

“We still run the north,” was the refrain of the Lane players after the game. Last Wednesday’s newspaper and television stories of the ascendence of the Amundsen football program on the Northside were on the minds of the Champions before and after the game.

The Lane Tech Champions made their case for that claim Friday evening with a victory 7-3 over a very good Amundsen Vikings squad at Lane Stadium.

This was about as close as games get. Both teams evenly matched. Both moved the ball at times. Amundsen Sophomore running back Reginald Mitchell was able run for some yards in the middle of the field. Lane junior quarterback Noah Mayra had a sixty-yard touchdown run called back on a penalty but still provided the Campions with a ton of rushing yards. Both defenses stiffened around the goal line.

 With the Vikings up 3-0, the turning point came at the 10:32 mark early in the fourth quarter with Amundsen deep in their own end. The Amundsen punter bobbled the snap and could not get the punt away. The Lane rushers tackled him at the seven-yard line where the Champions took over on downs.

 “We call it the brotherly shove,” Lane junior quarterback Noah Mayra said of the next two plays. The Champions lined up in their best imitation of the Philiadelphia Eagles now famous quarterback sneek play. Mayra carried, or was actually pushed forward from the Amundsen seven down to the two-yard line. Lining up quickly, the Champions ran the same play in from the two for the game’s only touchdown.

“We have been running that all year. We’ve gotten like four or five touchdowns on it. Two-point conversions,” continued Mayra after the game.

There was still plenty of time left for the Vikings to come back. The Vikings moved the into Lane territory but gave up an interception. The Champions gave up an interception of there own with under four minutes.

 Holding penalties plagued the Vikings as they struggled to rally for the win.

 “We must have had seven or eight holding penalties that really stalled drives. It’s hard to overcome penalties when you are playing good teams,” Amundsen head coach Nick Olson said after the game.

 “I fell like we just didn’t execute tonight, poor execution on the offensive side. Football is a game of inches. We had a bad snap on a punt deep in our own territory and that was the difference. They ran two quarterback sneaks and got the easy touchdown. We kind of just gave this game away. Our defense did a really good job. Our defensive coordinator and coaches had a really good game plan. We moved the ball at times and we kept stalling out before we punched it in. We had a big drop in the endzone before halftime. It just continued to spiral down. Great play; bad play. Great play; bad play. We really have to work on our consistency. Inconsistency is what cost us tonight.”

 Olson was a little hard on himself and his team. They played very well but make no mistake, Lane came in ready.

“We have a pretty good gauge on these guys from Amundsen. We kind of know what they like to do. We kind of know how to cut off the water to the things they like to do the best. That’s what we did tonight,” said Lane head coach Dedrick Dewalt.

“We kept a corner in the box, up in the flats the whole game. It disrupted what the wanted to do. We know they are not going to through the ball down field. So we liked to take way the screens and play well against the run. They may be a little bigger than us up front but we are quicker so we just looked to beat them to the punch.

A jubilant Noah Mayra continued after the game, “We lost Antonio [Bombe] our senior running back. We have our freshman running back Sam [Boadu]. He is great but we can’t give him the ball every time. He is still developing. He is still learning. So I am trying to take it upon myself to run the ball and get the ball to my teammates. Some I should have thrown. Some I should have just given to Sam but we pulled it off.

 The game was a fitting cap to good seasons for both teams, a really exciting game for both teams with each team finishing 6-3 and earned playoff appearances.

The Vikings will face the Belvidere North “Blue Thunder”, 7-2, third place in the Northern Illinois Conference behind Hononegah and Boylan Catholic. Amundsen’s playoff opponent from last year, Harlem, came out of that same conference. Amundsen lands the thirteenth seed in the 6A northern bracket. Belvidere with the fourth seed.

The Champions on the other hand are in 8A by virtue of being one of the largest schools in the state. They will face South Elgin on Friday night in South Elgin, which I learned is its own town interestingly. Who knew? The South Elgin “Strikers” were 8-1 in the Upstate Eight Conference (which actually has 10 teams). The Champions land the 26th seed out of the 32 teams in 8A. South Elgin comes in with the seventh seed.   

DePaul Prep Falls to IC Catholic in Regional Final

In a rematch of last year’s regional final, the DePaul Prep Rams girls volleyball team fell again to IC Catholic in an exciting three set match on Thursday, October 27, 2022.

DePaul Prep Falls to Winnebago 66-47 in 2A Super-sectional

The DePaul Prep Rams girls’ varsity basketball team fell to the Winnebago Indians 66-47 in the IHSA 2A Super-sectional at Elgin High School on Monday (Feb. 28, 2022). DePaul Prep coach Sarah Zarymbski and her Rams advanced to the Super-sectional, one win shy of the IHSA 2A State Finals for the second time in the last two playoffs. There were no state playoffs in 2021.

Coming into the game with the No. 1 2A ranked Winnebago, the Rams gave away significant size to the Indians. What the Rams lacked in size, they made up for in three-point shooting ability. Twelve of the Rams 26 point at halftime came off of three-pointers.

“We knew [Winnebago] converged a lot when you break into the lane, so we knew the kickout would be there,” said Zarymbski.

“They will randomly go double you. So we emphasized to find the open player with quick movement to find the open shot.” That they did and the three-point opportunities were there.

The Indians held a two-point lead at the half.

As we all know, good teams make adjustments at halftime. And that was what the Indian experienced and successful coach Winnebago coach Tracy Miller did. Coach Miller has been coaching since “the last century” as she put it which includes a “four or five” sectional championships and a couple trips to the State Finals.

“We kicked up defense considerable. We made a few adjustments at half time. We switched off people, changed up our defense a little bit and that helped. We have had rough starts for the last four or five games. We made a few adjustments at halftime but when they come out from halftime, [our players] wanted to prove something,” said Miller.

The adjustments mattered. The Indians opened the third quarter with at 10-0 run putting the Rams down for good.

“The only way we were really scoring a lot in the first half was with the threes. And they took away the threes. So we knew we would struggle scoring inside just because of how big they were, how long,” Zarymbski admitted.

DePaul Prep had eight returning players from the 2019-2020 sectional championship team.

“It meant a lot taking nine seniors to one of these. We had some pretty bad losses along the course of the season. At one point, the girls said, this is it, we need to step it up if we want to get back there. They really did. Taking them there means so much,” DePaul Prep third year coach Sarah Zarymbski said when asked what it want it meant to return to a Super-sectional game.  

The Indians opened a twenty-one point lead with under four minutes to play and that was it for the Rams. Final score: Indians 66, Rams 45.

DePaul Prep Beats Regina 54-33 to Win 2A Sectional

DePaul Prep defeated Regina Dominican 54-33 at the IHSA 2A Christ the King Sectional Championship game on Thursday (Feb. 24, 2022) to advance to the Super-sectional game tonight against Winnebago at Elgin High School.

After the game, I asked DePaul Prep girls varsity coach Sarah Zarymbski how many sectional championships her teams have won.

“Well, it’s our second,” Coach Zarymbski said.

“In four years of coaching?” I responded.

“Three years,” she replied.

Coach Zarymbski left out the fact that there were no playoff last year. Two years of playoff and two sectional championships. DePaul Prep/Gordon Tech girls basketball had not won a sectional championship at least as far back as IHSA on-line records go back to 2008.

The Rams jumped out to an early lead on Regina Dominican. And held that lead. The game was close. Regina hung around during the first half.

The third quarter was the difference. The Rams out scored Regina 21-10 taking control of the game. Regina was done after that. The Rams held the ball and keep scoring eventually opening a twenty-one (21) point lead

With their second sectional championship secured, the Super-sectional looms for Monday. The Rams will face the number one ranked Winnebago Indians (33-2, 9-0) from the Big Northern Conference. The Rams and Indians had no common opponents this year. However, Winnebago did lose to St. Viator (20-13, 3-4) from the East Suburban Catholic Conference. The Lions finished fifth in the ESCC, a good team but an average team in the Chicago area.

The super-sectional experience from two years ago has to help the Rams. The seniors experience the March 2020 trip out to DeKalb for the Super-sectional against Riverdale. The Rams coaching staff expressed a quiet confidence despite what has to be seen as an underdog status.

Winnebago also has recent Super-sectional experience. The Indians advanced to the DeKalb Super-sectional in 2019 but fell to eventual state champ Marshall.

The Rams v. Indians game tips-off at Elgin High School at 7:00 p.m. tonight (Monday, February 28, 2022). Tickets are only available on-line from: https://gofan.co/app/events/534964?schoolId=IL15466.

Crystal Lake Central 55, Amundsen 28

Today’s IHSA 6A playoff game Winnemac Stadium, a/k/a Jorndt Field saw the Crystal Lake Tigers defeat the Amundsen Vikings, 55-28.

This game was the Ted Lasso of high school football. When I got there, my long-time friend Erick Norton told me his son John is on the team. How cool is that?

“Sure, I will get all kinds of photos of him,” I told Erick

Amundsen High School at Foster and Damen, a CPS high school in the neighborhood, was coming it off its best season in as long as I have been paying attention. It’s great to see a neighborhood school succeed. I saw that the Vikings were a 5 seed playing a 12 seed. Not good karma as those who follow March Madness know. Now I had no illusions that Amundsen would be contending for a state title but who knows? A playoff win?

I knew exactly nothing about Crystal Lake Central. I remember being there once for a basketball game my son Dan was playing in the summer. It was far away, big and otherwise unremarkable. Nevertheless, I expected them to be good and probably trounce Amundsen.

And that they did. Crystal Lake Central’s sophomore quarterback Jason Penza returned Amundsen’s opening kickoff 80 yards on the first play of the game. The score was 55-28 in the end.

But that’s not the story of the game. There was just too much fight in the Amundsen kids to be overly concerned with the score. They were having too much fun playing the game. Sure, they were overmatched. For the most part, the Tigers were bigger, faster and stronger. And very well coached. The Crystal Lake play calling and execution were exquisite. These coaches did a great job. I do not know what I would have done differently even if I know enough to do something differently.

Even overmatched and outscored, the Amundsen Vikings played to the whistle. The kept cheering for each other while down forty points. They were having fun for the love of the game and for each other. They were having fun just for the chance to play.

Truth be told, the Amundsen coaches did a lot of yelling. But it kind of worked. The young men did not get down. They kept playing. They cheered each other on.

And they did what they could—which was score. Senior wideout Adam Muench is a player. He caught three touchdowns of 65, 60 and 33 yards. Senior quarterback Elijah Hernandez throws a lovely deep ball and hit Muench in stride on long touchdown passes. They made it look so easy at times, one wondered if they could get back in the game.

After the game, senior wide reciever Lamar Lane led his mates in a celebration reminiscent of the Samoan haka. I captured it on Twitter for those how might be interested.

We should all be proud of these young men. All of them, the Vikings and Tigers. They played well and for the love of the game. A good example for the adults in the room, at least this one.

As for the photos, it was an adventure. It was overcast and then bright midday sun, harsh with shadows and glare. You may notice a photo of an official’s back as he ran in front of my camera grabbing the autofocus and taking it with him and away from the touchdown pass that I had clearly in my focus points. It happens. I was not in good position. I just have never taken such perfect photograph of an official’s back to prove the autofocus capabilities of the new Canon.

I love shooting games at Winnemac/Jorndt. The red brick bleachers make for wonderful backgrounds.

I hope you like the photos.

DePaul Prep Drops Disney 13-1, a Year Ago

I was looking for some other photos and I noticed that I never processed the photos from the playoff game between DePaul Prep and Disney last spring. The DePaul Prep Rams eliminated Disney 13-1 in the IHSA regional playoff game.

Maybe this will help with some baseball withdrawal.

As I recall, I was using my 300mm, f5.6 lens. I typically only use this lens in bright light situations. This late afternoon game was not a good situation for this. I had to limit the shutter speed to 1/1000. Way to slow as one can tell from the blurry baseball shots. I hope you appreciate that I publish these photos despite them being such good evidence of just how crappy a photographer I am.

Nevertheless, there are some good ones. I hope you like them.

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.

Loyola Throttles Maine South 17-0 in 8A Quarterfinal

It is better to finish strong than start strong. Despite three losses Chicago Catholic League Blue early in the season, the Ramblers looked as dominant on defense Saturday against Maine South as any team I have seen this season.

Make no mistake about it. Maine South is a very good football team. Maine South came back in the second half to beat a very good Mount Carmel team. The Hawks made a believer out of me. Nevertheless, the Ramblers played a flawless game on defense and a brilliantly conservative and physical game on offense to shut out Maine South at Maine South.

Lincoln-Way East will have to go to Wilmette to face the Ramblers. Lincoln-Way has played some tough teams, Crete-Monee, Naperville Central, Thornwood. But they don’t play in the Catholic League’s Blue Division and they did not face Mt. Carmel, Brother Rice and Montini.

I am looking forward to this game. The semi-final should be a very good game.

Which brings me to a second subject—the dominance of the Catholic Schools in the football playoffs this year. In 8A, three of the four surviving teams are Catholic Schools: Brother Rice, Marist and Loyola. 7A has Nazareth and Mt. Carmel. 6A has Notre Dame. 5A has Joliet Catholic and Montini. 4A has Immaculate Conception and Bishop McNamara. 2A has St. Teresa (Decatur, Illinois). That’s eleven of the thirty-two teams. That’s basically 1/3 of all eight classes and half of the biggest classes.

How did this happen? Don’t know. I don’t even want to speculate.

What’s gonna happen? There will be some talk, in the usual quarters, about kicking private schools out of the IHSA. Don’t want to go there either. I’m sure we have all heard quite enough of the multiplier talk.

Personally, I think it will swing back. The DuPage Valley restructured. It will be back. And who knows what is going to happen with the Catholic Super Conference next year.

I am struggling about what to do about the finals. The football finals are the same time as the start of the basketball season. What is a photographer to do?