In the first game of the fifth annual Steve Pappas Shootout at DePaul Prep, the Loyola Ramblers defeated the Glenbrook North Spartans 48-38. The Spartans, coming off a big win over New Trier last night, ran into a hot shooting Ramblers team that was ready to play.
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.
Loyola Edges St. Ignatius 40-37 to Win the Jesuit Cup
The Loyola Academy Ramblers (7-1, 1-1) came back from five points down at the half to edge the St. Ignatius Wolfpack 40-37 (5-3, 0-1) at Loyola University Chicago’s Gentile Center Friday evening.
The Gentile Center was jumping. I have never seen student sections as crowded and as vocal at a high school game in the 500 years that I have been going to games. But then again, this is my first Jesuit Cup game.
The Wolfpack jumped out to an early lead. The Ramblers dialed up the defense with combination zone, man-to-man and 1-3-1 trapping defenses.
“We were really calm,” said Loyola head coach Tom Livatino about falling behind 11-0 at the start. “They figured it out.”
“It’s something in our program that we take a lot of pride in this game,” Loyola Academy coach Tom Livatino said after the game. “We just been fortunate enough to come out ahead,” Livatino said of the Ramblers streak of winning ten of the last eleven Jesuit Cup matchups with St. Ignatius.
“We are a long way from who we are going to be,” Livatino contined. “Our football guys, the reason we were going offense defense, because they don’t even know our sets. We have a long way to go. It’s a great win.”
“We’ve always been a defensive team. We will never not be a defensive team. It might not be everybody’s taste. We were pretty successful. We didn’t do anything special. We trapped a little bit in the second half. It doesn’t matter; guys just made plays.
“We did a poor job of closing out the game and time and score stuff. We made some bad mistakes and bad decisions. We did not go to the free throw line and make two. We’ve got to be better than that. It’s early. Our guys persevered and we got a great win,” Livatino said.
“We got to 1-1 in the [Chicago Catholic] League.The game is huge for the Jesuit Cup and our community and our seniors. It means a lot. But we have to get to 1-1 in the League. We play in the best league in Illinois, maybe the best league in the Midwest. So we had to get to 1-1 and we did.”
“Our seniors wear this game as a badge of honor. It means a lot. [The team’s] legacy has something to do with this game,” Livatino said.
“They went to their 1-3-1 [defense]. We were expecting it but we did not adjust well to it. It got us a few times. But we also got away from some of the things that had gotten there in the first place. It was a combination of that adjustment they made with the 1-3-1, them kind of solidifying their stuff and us getting away from what got us there,” said St. Ignatius coach Matt Monroe.
“We are as prepared as we ever can be when we play them, and they still run their stuff really well,” Monroe said of the Loyola defensive style of play.
“For us, it’s important to keep perspective. The Jesuit Cup is really important. It brings two Jesuit communities together. It’s more of a celebration of what the Jesuit education and the Jesuit mission is all about. So when we have a packed house and we are playing in front of all of our family, friends and alumni, it’s a big deal to us. We want to bring that Jesuit Cup home. The the other side of it is our season’s a journey. If you look at our team the last four or five years, every journey has been different. Whether it is starting slow, hitting a dip in the middle of the season or finishing strong at the end. Big games, like the Jesuit Cup or other ones, are part of the journey. It’s dissappointing not to bring that home but we’ve got Homewood-Flossmoor on Sunday. We’ve got Aurora Catholic on Tuesday, Mount Carmel on Friday. It just keeps going.”
A long way to go in the season. The Catholic League Blue is up for grabs.
DePaul Prep Defeats Loyola 42-29
The Loyola Academy Ramblers visited DePaul Prep for a game that was originally scheduled to be played at Loyola. It seems the Ramblers’ gym was a needed for a parent fundraiser. The fundraiser worked out well for the Rams, not so much for the Ramblers.
There was an energy in the Tom Winiecki Gym on Friday that isn’t there at times. And there was a fire in the coach and players.
The Rams opened a 14-2 first quarter lead. Loyola had trouble getting shots up. The shots they did were not well taken. The Rams lead 21-10 at the half.
More of the same in the third quarter. The Rams held their lead. In the forth Loyola’s coach Tom Livatino put the Ramblers in a 3/4 court trapping press. The Ramblers cut the lead to eight midway through the fourth. That is as close as the Ramblers would get.
The Rams got back to doing what they do—protect leads and kill clock.
Final—Rams 42, Ramblers 29.
I don’t know what’s next. I have just been enjoying this one. The Rams move to 7-2 in the Catholic League and 17-3 overall.
As for the photos, I moved around a little in the fourth quarter. I took some shots from the stage which I haven’t done in years. I hope you like the photos.
Loyola defeats Phillips 30-0.
By Jack Lydon
Lane Tech ran into a COVID hold that cancelled its game against Phillips schedule for Friday, April 16. Phillips coach Troy McAllister didn’t want to lose another chance to play in this abbreviated season. No. 1 ranked Loyola (5-0, 3-0) had a hole it its schedule this weekend.
“Lane cancelled on Phillips. Troy called and asked if we could schedule a game,” Loyola head football coach and former NFL player John Holecek said. Holecek quickly agreed to the unusual late afternoon Friday game for Loyola.
With its big lawn, new parking lot and tennis court, the addition to the football field, Loyola Academy has the feeling of a small college. Loyola Academy is a Chicago Catholic League powerhouse with the number one ranking. Despite being the top football program in the Chicago Public School system, Phillips (3-1, 1-0) had a tall task in front of it.
In another time, this would have been match up for the ages. As it was in August 2017, when Phillips opened its magically state championship season with a 20-14 victory over recent state champion Loyola. Could the Wildcats must the magic this time on Loyola’s home field after all the adversity of the COVID season?
Loyola got the opening kickoff and methodically moved down the field with a conservative and impressive ground attack.
“When you have Vaughn Pemberton running the ball, you can afford be conservative,” Holecek said.
“But we took our shots.”
One such shot was at the end of the Ramblers opening drive. On fourth and four at the Phillips 25-yard line, Loyola’s senior quarterback J. T. Thomas dropped back. Senior wide receiver Perrion Mcclinton ran a post and Thomas hit him at the goal line for the game’s opening score capping a 13 play, 74 yard drive that ate up over half of the first quarter.
Loyola senior kicker Nate Van zelst added an extra point giving the Ramblers a 7-0 lead.
After intercepting a pass, Loyola took over deep in Wildcat’s territory. Ramblers’ senior running back Vaughn Pemberton ran the ball in for a 16-yard touchdown. The Ramblers pushed to lead to 14-0 early in the second quarter.
Phillips was by means out of the game. With 4:18 left in the half, Loyola muffed a punt turning the ball over deep in their own end. The Wildcats moved the ball down to Loyola’s 11-yard line but could not score.
Taking over on downs and continuing their conservative game plan, the Ramblers run out the clock, happy to take the 14-point lead into the locker room.
The third quarter proved to be Phillips breaking point. After Loyola senior running back Aiden Brownlee took a reverse around end for a 26-yard touchdown. Ramblers 21, Wildcats 0.
On the next Phillips possession, the Loyola defense broke the back of the Phillips offense. Ramblers’ defensive from four, seniors Liam Conaghan, Omaru Konneh and Brandan Svets and junior Michael Williams, destroyed Phillips offensive line with three consecutive sacks. Phillips junior quarterback Tyler Turner made a tremendous player to reach the ball out of the endzone while being dragged down to avoid a safety during the third sack.
Loyola added a 39-yard field goal by standout kicker Nate Van zelst and a late touchdown pushing the score to 30-0 sealing the Ramblers victory and improving their record to 5-0 on this strange COVID season.
Loyola standing out running back Vaughn Pemberton summed up the feelings of both teams after the game.
“We don’t take any of these reps for granted. We just go out there and have fun with our brothers. James Kyle [Loyola senior tight end] gets hurt and can’t play. We all wrote [Kyle’s number] 81 on our wrists. I just appreciate it. I am just happy to be out here,” Pemberton said.
Loyola will face CCL/ESCC rival #5 Marist Redhawks at Marist for the championship of the combined leagues’ Blue Division championship.
Hope you like the photos.
Loyola Edges St. Viator 40-39 in OT
If you like defense, you will like this year’s #19 ranked Loyola Academy Ramblers. The Ramblers (17-1, 6-0) edged the St. Viator Lions (11-6, 2-1) 40-39 in the second annual Steve Pappas Shootout at DePaul College Prep Saturday afternoon.
The Ramblers win by playing defense. They just wear you down in their zone defense until you turn the ball over. St. Viator lacked the three point shooter to loosen that zone but the Lions fought and got some inside points. The Lions also played equally good defense.
With a chance to win with a few seconds left, St. Viator’s standout Connor Kochera could not get a shot off before the buzzer and there you have it. 40-39. Another eighth grade score in Loyola game.
Loyola Survives Maine South 14-6 in 8A Playoff Opener
For the second straight year, the Loyola Academy Ramblers traveled to Park Ridge to take on the Maine South Hawks in the IHSA 8A playoff opener. And like last year, the Ramblers defense throttled a very good Hawks offence holding them scoreless despite Maine South being able to move the ball down the field much of the game.
The first score the game came at the start of the fourth quarter when the Loyola running back plunged into the middle of the line for a short gain. It appeared to most, at least to those on the Loyola sideline where I was at the time, that the play was over, but there was no whistle. Maine West linebacker Liam Barry emerged from the scrum with the ball and raced into the endzone. The referee looked at the other officials for word that someone blew a whistle. Seeing none, he raised his arms signaling a touchdown and Maine South was on the board.
Maine South missed the extra point making the score 6-0.
After a Maine South fumble, the Ramblers QB JT Thomas to star wide receiver Matt Mangan. The PAT was good; Loyola lead 7-0.
The Ramblers added a touchdown with just over two minutes to play on a pass from Thomas to WR James Kyle making in 14-6. Maine South again moved the ball up the field but came up short.
Loyola advances to the second round and will face #2 Glenbard West in Wilmette next Saturday.
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?
Palm Sunday Visit to Montrose Harbor and Loyola Campus
Fresh of the Loyola Ramblers' unlikely NCAA tournament victory over Kansas State, I got up early on the Palm Sunday morning (March 25, 2018) to drive some things down to my son Dan as he was going back to school after his Spring Break trip.
On my way home, I detoured to the breakwater off Montrose Harbor and the Loyola campus and strolled around about 0700 taking some photos.
The early morning light at Montrose Harbor made everything look especially gray. I loved the chop on the grey water. Some fishermen and geese happened into the shots which is always good.
I lot changed on the Loyola campus since I was there 33 years ago. I have been back many times since by never for the express purpose of taking photos.
No one was out yet. Just me and the police.
