Kenwood Survives Lane Tech 82-75

[Preview of this week’s Inside—Booster article.]

By Jack Lydon

No. 1 ranked Kenwood Broncos came up to Addison and Western for a Chicago Public League Red-Shield Division showdown Thursday evening against Lane Tech. Despite a furious third quarter comeback by the Champions, the Broncos hold off the Champions for a 82-75 victory. Broncos improve to 9-0 and 5-0 in the Red-Shield.

With almost a third of the season in the books and with wins over ranked teams like DePaul Prep, Warren Township and Simeon, Kenwood is looking like the best team in the state. Kenwood’s top rated players Devin Cleveland, Aleks Alston, Terrance “Tj” Seals and Amari Edwards have coalesced into a punishing offensive and defensive squad.  

This is what the Lane Tech Champions faced on their home court but Kenwood’s record and star power mattered little. This reporter has been to more than a few rock ‘n roll shows in his day but none was louder and more raucous than Lane’s gym on Thursday. The place was packed with students and parents from both schools. The Lane band was amping up the crowd.

Despite Lane’s 6-6 record so far in the season, this Lane team is as good as I have seen. They have any ton of length—tall players that spread the floor and make teams shoot over them. These Champions play defense and can score inside and outside.

They also have put together the toughest schedule of any school so far in the season. Going into this game, Kenwood was just par for the course competition for the Lane. The Champions have faced five ranked teams, Niles North, DePaul Prep, Curie, St. Ignatius and Kenwood. And that is not to mention that the Champions went to the Gonzaga Shootout in Washington D.C., where the faced national powerhouse teams Bishop Spaulding from Maryland and St. Ignatius of Cleveland, Ohio.

Kenwood jumped out to a 43-33 first half lead. Both teams were scoring. It just seems like every player on Kenwood scored at will.

Even so, last year’s game at Lane against Whitney Young came to mind at the half. The Champions were hanging around in striking distance with the kind of energy of a team that expects to win. That’s what happened last year with the Champions upset Whitney Young 67-51. The energy in the room was very similar.

Lane erased the deficit in the third taking a 51-50 lead with 3:09 left in the quarter powered by two early three-point shots by forward Zach Mazanowski. Mazanowski finished with a career high 31 points against the No. 1 team.

Lane Tech head coach Nick LoGalbo gushed about the senior’s performance. “He’s put in the work. He shows. He’s a division one player. I have been saying it to everyone who will listen. We’ve got guys looking at him now but they better get on him soon. Someone is going to be really lucky to get him,” said LoGalbo.

Eye popping as 31 points is at the high school level, the other Champions contributed at a high level. Senior center Dalton Scantlebury scored 17 points and dominated the paint much of the game. Senior forward Andrew Bartolai added 13 points. It was the Champions highest point total of the season against the best team in the state.

Kenwood was just too good. At one point, they Broncos spread the floor and slowed the tempo down a little. Sophomore shooting guard Devin Cleveland worked the ball into the lane, left then right and pulled up for a jumper that was nothing but net. A Whitney Young type upset was not going to happen against this group.

Kenwood senior center Aleks Alston had 25 points. Cleveland had 24. Transfer from Phillips point guard Amari Edwards had 11. TJ Seals and 10 and Demari Stephens had 11 points. The Champions could not stop the whole team in fourth quarter. The Broncos rallied for the seven- point win and possession of the first place in the Red Shield.

Mazanowski did not quite know his point total after the game, a career high 31 points. “We played phenomenal as a team. Dalton had 17 or 18 himself. All around it was a good game for us,” Zach Mazanowski said.

Loyola Defeats St. Ignatius 48-45 to Win the Jesuit Cup

I was back at Loyola Chicago last night for the Jesuit Cup game between Loyola Academy and St. Ignatius College Prep. As I walking into the Gentile Arena, I looked about the playing field, or what was the playing field when I went to Loyola, and saw Dumbach Hall, where I had quite a few classes back in the day.

Dumbach Hall was the original home of the Loyola Academy high school before it moved out to Wilmette in 1957. Now the Wilmette Ramblers basketball team was once again back home to take on the original Jesuit high school in Chicago, the Saint Ignatius College Prep Wolfpack.

The legendary Dutch Jesuit priest Fr. Arnold Damen, S.J., for whom Damen Avenue is named, founded Holy Family Church in 1957 serving largely Irish immigrant families in the rough and tumble Chicago of the pre-Civil War era.

Fr. Damen opend St. Ignatius College right after the Civil War in 1869 which then was a high school and a college. The college later moved up to the Rogers Park and became Loyola University.

The St. Ignatius and Loyola Academy have a common history and considerable rivalry.

Mind you, my Irish immigrant family wasn’t quite fancy enough to be part of the St. Ignatius and Loyola high schools. But my sister and I did make it into Jesuit colleges. She is a lot smarter than me so when to Georgetown. II was just smart enough to get into what was then called Loyola University of Chicago. Now it’s just, Loyola University Chicago.

The full history of the Jesuit Cup illudes me. We will have to leave that story for next year.

This year, as in at least the last two years, the game has been at Loyola University’s Gentile Arena, a great intimate place to watch a basketball game. Gentile has great light for taking photos—the most important part of high school basketball.

The Wolfpack came into tonight’s Jesuit Cup ranked #11 with a 7-0 record. They have excellent players and are well coached. The Ramblers were 6-3 and just getting their football players back from a back-to-back-to-back 8A state football championship.

Loyola has won ten out of the last 11 Jesuit Cup games. The student body was fired up for the game.

St. Ignatius was there in force as well. Both school communities enjoy the rivalry. The Gentile Center was rocking.

The Ramblers jumped out to an early lead. Ignatius chipped away at is slowing, only getting their first and only lead of the game, 42-41, with 2:50 left in the game. For the next couple minutes, it was back and forth. Tied 45-45, the Ramblers called time out with under 10 seconds to play. They lined up their play and inbounded the ball. With tremendous front court pressure from St. Ignatius resembling a pack of wolves, Rambler junior guard Sam Golden took a pass and seconds on the clock and the game on the line throw a shot from beyond the arc. The shot banked in off the glass as time expired.

48-45 Loyola wins.

“That was a little bit of a coming out party for Sam Golden. He made some big shots all game long. Like Sam said, ‘That was in all the way,’” said Rambler head coach Tom Livatino.

“It’s the biggest game of the season. It’ always circled at the start of the season,” Sam Golden said of the Jesuit Cup game. “

We always look forward to it and always try to win and play our hearts out. I used to come every year.”

If you haven’t been to a Jesuit Cup game at the Gentile Center, I highly recommend it. It’s high school basketball at its best.

St. Ignatius might want to move the next one to Marquette or St. Louis University just to break up the Ramblers’ 11 out of 12 mojo from being across the lawn from their original home. Just a thought.

Lane Falls to St. Ignatius 66-60 at Chicago Elite Classic

[A preview of this week’s article in Inside—Booster.]

By Jack Lydon

The Lane Tech Champions (2-3) have had a rough start. They came up short 66-60 on Friday against #11 St. Ignatius at the Chicago Elite Classic at UIC’s Credit One Arena. In their first five games, the Champions have faced five ranked teams, #4 DePaul Prep, #11 St. a Ignatius, #18 Niles North, who they beat, and #21 Curie.

“I have a lot of faith in this team. This is the best team I think with have had at Lane. It would be great being 5-0 here on December 6th, but we want to be ready in March,” Lane Tech Champions head coach Nick LoGalbo said of his tough schedule.

“This team has a chance to do some special things. We lost three heartbreakers. Curie was a last second shot. We have got to put some games together now,” LoGalbo continued.

Much is said about win/loss records. Should a team pile up wins or is it better to put tough teams on one’s schedule? Fans like a gaudy win loss record but coaches know it’s better to have faced tough competition when hiding into the IHSA playoffs in March.

LoGalbo is confident about his team in large part because of the team’s “length”—a reference to the size of his players and their ability of his defenders to force outside shots.

“They have a ton of length. That’s one of their many strengths,” said St. Ignatius head coach Matt Monroe regarding Lane.

“We wanted to hunt good shots. We couldn’t just one pass and shoot a three because they were going to have a guy right there. We needed to get our shooters open and get their lengthy guys away from our shooters by driving and kicking,” Monroe continued.

“We talked a little bit about trying to navigate their length, to finish off two feeds, shot fake around the rim, if you don’t get them to bite then kick it out to the shooters. That played a big role in our open shots in the second half.”

And that’s largely what happened. Just a few points separated the teams throughout the first half as the teams traded buckets. But in the second half, the drive-kick-pass-shoot offense of St. Ignatius installed resulted in seven three-point field goals.

“They shot 50% from three. We had two tough teams that know each other exceptionally well. They know what we are going to run. We know what they are going to run. They did a good job of taking us out of some of the things we wanted to do. We made some adjustments and we were getting some clean looks. But at the end of the day, we made some bonehead mistakes,” LoGalbo lamented.

The Champions move on into Chicago Public League play with upcoming games against Westinghouse, Kenwood, Clarke and a rematch against Phillips. Lane also travels next weekend to Washington D.C., to play in the Gonzaga high school tournament. This is more of the boot camp to get ready for the March state title run.

The Chicago Elite Classic is a high school basketball “shootout” organized and hosted by legendary CPS high school coaches Tyrone Slaughter and retired Simeon coach Robert Smith. Top teams from the Chicago area are invited play other top teams. Also invited are top teams from around the country. This year, those teams are Mater Dei from Los Angeles, Chaminade from Missouri and Duncanville from Texas.

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.

Lane Tech Defeats St. Ignatius 57-51

Preview of my article in the Inside Booster:

The Lane Tech Champions (8-4, 3-1) found their way back, back from an early season injury to a key player and back from twelve-point deficit at the end of the first quarter. The Champion defeated the St. Ignatius Wolfpack (6-6, 0-2) 57-51 at St. Ignatius on Tuesday.

If there can be an important game early in season, this one sure felt like one. Both the Wolfpack and the Champions opened the season as ranked teams, #10 and #20 respectively. Both have lost their ranking after losing some games.

A win for the Wolfpack against a quality opponent such as Lane would stop their slide after a brutally difficult opening season schedule resulted in five losses to ranked teams.

A win for the Champions would bring them back from a couple losses, including an unexpected conference loss to Payton College Prep, and the absence for key contributor junior center Dalton Scantlebury. Scantlebury suffered a foot injury prior to the Payton game and has missed a few games.

The Wolfpack opened the game looking like a top ten team. The 13-0 scoring run on the Champions at the end of the first quarter made the game appear that it might not be close and the loss of Scantlebury might mean more than it was hoped. 18-6 Wolfpack at the end of the first quarter.

Lane Tech did not panic. Too well coached for that. They started playing defense. Funny how when a team starts playing defense, their shots start to fall. The Champions put together a run of their own. 25-21 St. Ignatius at the half.

Back and forth through the third and into the fourth. With time ticking down late in the fourth quarter, big players come up big. Lane’s senior Shaheed Solebo, who is considered one of the top players in the class of 2024, poured in two three-pointers from the baseline that landed like bombs erupting in the gym and put the Champions ahead for good. The Wolfpack continued to battle with plenty of time left to get the lead back but only managed three more points. The Champions made their free throws and won 51-51.

“Something just turned on. I knew we needed to win the game. Those threes might be the best [three-pointers] I have’ve had all season. I was ready to shoot. I knew those were going in,” Solebo said of the three-pointers.

Of the defensive gem pitched by the Champion, Solebo said, “Coming out after the half, we knew that stops (pointless possessions by St. Ignatius) would win us the game. We knew they were overloading the weakside. We started talking more. We started calling out screens and switching more. We played more aggressive with hands up. We just locked in on defense.”    

“It’s a big win, a team in our sectional, great program. We talked about just trying to find our identity. Dalton [Scantlebury] was such a big part of our identity early for the first six games. Now we have had six games without him. We’ve had some guys step up and do different things for us. Zack [Mazanowski] who is a wing plays [center]. Dylan [Pepper] who’s a wing plays [center,]” Lane head coach Nick LoGalbo said after the game.

Big win for sure but the season is just beginning. The Champions will face St. Louis, Missouri powerhouse basketball program Chaminade College Prep next.

“Frank Bennett, [Chaminade’s] head coach, and I coached in USA Basketball Nike Hoops Summit this past spring. We have run camps together in USA Basketball for years. We are two very like-minded individuals. We have been talking about doing this for a while. We finally got it in the books. We are going to see them next year,” said LoGalbo.

Then onto the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic for the Champions. This will be the first appearance at Hinsdale where they could face a rematch with neighbor and newfound rival, DePaul Prep Rams on Friday, December 29.

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.

St. Ignatius Falls to Riverside-Brookfield 50-49 in Chicago Elite Classic.

The St. Ignatius Wolfpack (4-2, 0-0) lost to the Riverside-Brookfield Bulldogs (5-1, 1-0) 50-49 at the Chicago Elite Classic Saturday afternoon.

The Wolfpack just could not buy a bucket at the end after going back and forth with the Bulldogs all game. The Wolfpack pushed their lead to seven points with less than three minutes to play. And that would be it. The Bulldogs rallied to score the last eight points and win the game.

“We had a couple of good shots that did not go in. A couple of missed layups but also we were very inconsistent with how we share the basketball. We don’t screen off the ball consistently. When you have lapses in those two areas, you make it a lot harder on yourself to win,” said the St. Ignatius head coach Matt Monroe.

“Mike Reingruber is a great coach. Certainly they made adjustments but I felt that it was us being inconsistent.”

“Like coach said, if we didn’t have lapses and screen off the ball, sharing the ball consistently, we would have had a bigger run,” added Reggie Ray, St. Ignatius senior guard who finished with nine points.

They were too hard on themselves. R-B 6’11” senior center had late blocks under the basket that stopped the Wolfpack. The defense of R-B and rebounds at the end won the game. That and scoring the final eight points of the game.

St. Ignatius moves on to Catholic League play with St. Francis De Sales, Loyola Academy and Aurora Central Catholic before Christmas, plus a side trip to play Homewood-Flossmoor at the Team Rose Shootout.

“Winning the Catholic League Blue is probably the toughest thing any one team can do in the State of Illinois,” added Monroe.

“We are looking forward to the challenge. We are happy to be amongst the best. We are also one of the best. Certainly every game is a learning experience. We are looking forward to that competition. Playing against the best brings out the best in you. It’s a tough slate of games. I know these guys have everything it takes.”

DePaul Prep Falls to St. Ignatius in Sectional

Preview of my story this week in Inside Publications:

The DePaul Prep girls’ varsity volleyball team fell to the St. Ignatius Wolfpack on Monday in the IHSA 3A sectional semifinal at St. Ignatius. A large crowd filled the St. Ignatius Gentile Gymnasium for the match. This high-level volleyball was action packed. The teams were never separated by more than five points in either match. The Wolfpack were just that little bit better at defending the attacks by the Rams. Ignatius topped the Rams in two sets, 25-20 and 25-22.

The Rams and their fourth-year head coach Caroline Gajzler came into the sectional fresh off their first regional since Gajzler took over the program four years ago. Gajzler, an assistant athletic director at DePaul Prep and former physical education teacher, was gracious, if not clearly disappointed after the game.

“Kudos to St. Ignatius. They played a hell of a game. They are very scrappy, in terms of defense. [St. Ignatius sophomore Skyler Greene] #10 on the right side gave us issues the entire match. Congratulations to them. On our side, we broke down in our serve and passing games. In the first set, we missed four serves and we were not passing like in our typical game,” Gajzler said.

“We started off the season inconsistent in our match play. We were having difficulty finding the court offensively. Throughout the season our attackers found consistency. Our back row found consistency. With that our confidence grew. We found a good line up that was meshing well together. And then we won some big matches. That really gave us the confidence boost,” Gajzler continued.

Rams’ “libero’ senior Charlotte Collins was a leader on the Rams squad.

“This was our best season yet. We finally clicked as a team. Everyone really wanted it this year,” Collins said after the game. Collins noted the improvement of the Rams squad from last year.

“We really found our rhythm. We learned how to play with each other and connect. Our setters connected with our hitters better. And just effort. We stepped up the game. We wanted to go farther this year and we did,” Collins said.

“Having a bond with everyone and being able to trust your teammates is just so important. If you don’t have that, everyone can be amazing on the team, but if there is no trust and support, then you can’t do anything,” Collins continued.

It was a successful season for the Rams; a 29-9 record with a thirteen-match win streak going it the St. Ignatius sectional match. With the dramatic increase in enrollment at DePaul Prep, the Rams moved up from 2A to 3A in the IHSA four level volleyball classification system. This actually helped the Rams advance through the regional finals. They did not have to face powerhouse teams like IC Catholic and Timothy Christian that defeated them in recent years.

Last weeks’ regional championship over North Grand at Prosser was a milestone for Gajzler with her first regional championship. Last year Gajzler’s Rams suffered an emotional close loss to powerhouse IC Catholic in the regional championship at DePaul. Before that was the lost COVID year with no playoffs. Before that was another close lose to powerhouse Timothy Christian in a regional final.

St. Ignatius went on to advance to the State Finals in Bloomington this coming weekend with wins in the sectional final over DeLaSalle and St. Lawrence in the Super-sectional, both teams that DePaul Prep beat in the regular season.

DePaul Prep Defeats St. Ignatius 6-2

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated the St. Ignatius Wolfpack 6-2 at the brand new baseball field at Rice Park in a Chicago Catholic League showdown.

“We’ve been talking about it the last two weeks. We’ve got to produce with runners in scoring position. We have struggled a little bit with that,” said Rams’ manager Sam Colon.

Up 3-0 in the top of the fourth, with two down and two strikes on him, freshman catcher and left fielder Addison Latko rifled a shot between third base and the third baseman. Oliver Vigerust, Kevin O’Connor and AJ Garcia came around to score putting the Rams up 6-0.

“That was big time for the freshman for sure,” continued Colon.

DePaul’s senior pitcher Dylan Kaminski (3-0) continued his dominance only giving up two hits and no runs through five innings. However, with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, up by six runs, Kaminski found a little trouble.

Kaminski gave up a sharpe single to center, then a walk, then another single on a ground ball to left. A throwing error allowed a run in, then another run scored when no one covered home on the throwing error.

That was that. The next batter popped up and the inning was over with two Wolves left on base.

Dylan set down the next Wolves from the Pack in order in the bottom of the seventh for a complete game Rams’ victory.

Rams move on to face Harvest Christian tomorrow and then start an important two game set against Montini.

Crete-Monee Defeats St. Ignatius in IHSA 6A Playoff 15-3

St. Ignatius College Prep Wolfpack football team fell to the Crete-Monee High School Warriors on Saturday evening (November 6, 2021) 15-3 at Fornelli Field.

It was the tale of two halves. The Wolfpack played their game in the first half—run the ball and control the clock. But their drives stalled when getting into the red zone because of penalties and they had to settle for just one field goal.

The Warriors just could not get anything going in the first half. They couldn’t throw; they couldn’t run. They got a few first downs be could not move the ball consistently.

Nevertheless, I just had the feeling that either or both teams would break some big plays in the second half.

It was Crete-Monee that made that happen. Midway through the third quarter, one of Crete-Monee’s interchangeable quarterbacks, Joshua Franklin, got free around end down to the St. Ignatius two yard-line. On the next play, one of the other interchangeable quarterbacks, Terry Elias, Jr., took a pitch around the same end and scored the first touchdown of the game. With the PAT, the Warriors took a 7-3 lead.

The Wolfpack had plenty of time to do what they had down all season, control the clock, run the football and take the lead. So they started to do, but again, penalties stalled them. This style doesn’t allow for many possessions.

The quarter came and as the time ticked away, the Wolfpack failed to convert another fourth and long and turned it over on downs to the Warriors at mid-field.

It looked like Crete-Monee would simply just run out the clock.

Joshua Franklin dropped back and hit Junior wide-receiver Lynell Billups on a skinny post. No one was going to catch him.

A palpable gasp came out of the St. Ignatius sideline. The wind came out of sail on St. Ignatius’ historic season. The Warriors added a two-point conversion off a high snap on a kick attempt. The miracle season would soon end.

The 9-2 season for the Wolfpack is their best in decades—many decades. The future lawyers, CEOs, tech moguls, doctors and priests should be proud. Think of the reunions in 30, 40 and 50 years when they can relive their glory days.

Crete-Monee gets Washington next Saturday with a chance to go to Finals in DeKalb.

As for Crete-Monee, after the game their emotional coach John Konecki told his young warriors that they had given body blow after body blow, and then, a knock out punch to the head and they won the game.

“I have never seen a more gutsy performance by any football team ever,” Konecki said.

I have to say I have never seen a happier group of winners than these young men. They came to Chicago and played tough and well. They had prevailed with their brothers and lived to play another game.

Well done.

Not my finest photos ever. But some good ones. Hope you like them.

St. Ignatius Handles Bremen 42-7 in IHSA 6A Playoff

The game ended 42-7 but it was 7-7 with 1:42 left in the first half.

Having seen St. Ignatius play a couple weeks ago, I expected the Wolfpack to be able to deal with Bremen. The Wolfpack are solid in every phase. Before the game, I asked St. Ignatius Coach Bob DeCarlo what to expect. He cautioned that Bremen had improved since the Wolfpack handled them the second game of the season.

The Wolfpack scored on their first possession. Jr. Quarterback Jake Petrow had a 70 yard run. Sr. RB Vinny Rugai finished off the drive with a three yard touchdown.

The rest of the half was just the teams trading field position until the final minutes when Bremen put together a nice drive. Bremen senior running back Keyshawn Lewis-Hunt scored with 1:45 left in the half.

Not over yet. The Wolfpack quickly moved the ball down the field. Sr. wideout Jack Molloy took a handoff around the right end and scored a six yard touchdown with 26 second left making the score 14-7 Wolfpack at the half.

Second half was all St. Ignatius. Vinny Rugai added three more touchdowns. I think it was three. Frankly, I lost track of who scored because I am there to take photos. Just too much to keep score and take photos—in the rain.

The Bremen Braves could not manage much offence against the stingy Wolfpack defense. Midway through the the fourth, the bench players came closing out a high school football for many that will never play another game.

Wolfpack moves on to face the winner of the Crete-Monee v. Glenwood game this afternoon.

I got some good photos that I am happy with given the conditions.

St. Ignatius Blows Past St. Laurence in Second Half for 67-49 Victory

Despite a 24-9 season last year and winning a spot in a sectional championship, number 13 ranked St. Ignatius hosted St. Laurence in a Chicago Catholic League “crossover” matchup between two teams swapping spots in CCL divisions this year. The Wolfpack were, some might say, “relegated” to the White and the Vikings moving up to the Blue division.

“I know; it’s weird. We are moving because of our record two years ago,” said St. Ignatius head coach Matt Monroe.

Relegated or not St. Ignatius is good. Coming off a disappointing 34-31 loss against Loyola Academy on Thursday, the Wolfpack looked flat and tentative in the first half. Just like they did at Loyola.

The Vikings impressed in the first half. Lead by senior guard and football quarterback Darius Wilson, the Vikings defense played well and the offence finished at the other end leading 33-30 at the half.

Monroe lit a fire under them at halftime. “I told them we have to play with energy on defense. When they got active on the defensive end, it jump started the offense,” Monroe said.

The second half was a whole different story. Ignatius outscored Laurence 18-6 in the third quarter. Ignatius did not let up in the fourth. Laurence’s frustration boiled over into two technical fouls. It was over at that point.

When asked if it is the quest for a CCL White championship motives his team, Monroe said, “I tell them to play for each other.” Make your team great.

Monroe has his team playing for each other.

Final score: St. Ignatius 67, St. Laurence 49.

St. Ignatius Upsets DePaul Prep 56-54 in Sectional Semi-final

The St. Ignatius Wolfpack defeated the DePaul Prep Rams on Wednesday evening (March 11, 2020) to win a IHSA 3A sectional semi-final 56-54.

I did not post these photos right after the game. Frankly, I did not know what to write. It was an abrupt and unexpected end to the season, to the whole season, for everyone. The next day, the IHSA pulled the plug on high schools sports because of the global pandemic.

No more playoffs. No state championship tournaments. That’s it. Done. Over. Wait ‘til next year. I suppose it had to be.

I may, or may not, have more to write about the DePaul Prep season. It seems people actually read this idiot blog so perhaps I ought to be a little more circumspect with sharing my opinions. Plus, I don’t know what to write at the moment anyway. Kind of uncharted territory when the team has a great season, an historic season and one is disappointed just because you did not to win a state championship.

As for the photos, I have never liked the light at St. Ignatius. Not enough light and it is just too yellow in there. I can never get the white balance correct.

It was great to see the young St. Ignatius student photographer Luke Hales at the game. Luke is a high school senior and takes amazing photographs. You can see his photos from the same game here and judge for yourself. I have really enjoyed seeing his “in with the team” perspective. I look forward to seeing his photos in the future.

But I will write this. Thank you DePaul Prep. I hesitate to name names because I would have to far too many people to mention. I greatly enjoyed just coming to the games and watching excellent high school basketball. Thanks for the opportunity to get work on my craft, at your expense most of the time. Thank you for being so nice about it and making me feel welcome and appreciated.

In the words of our erstwhile leader and beloved Ram for life, Paul Chabura:

As always, Go Rams!

DePaul Prep Handles St. Ignatius 65-34

The DePaul Prep Rams rebounded Friday night (February 21, 2020) from consecutive CCL Blue losses to Fenwick and Loyola in a convincing defeat of the very good St. Ignatius Wolfpack 65-34 at DePaul Prep.

It’s been a rough couple weeks for the Rams with three Chicago Catholic League Blue division losses in a row. Even so, it’s only 5 losses on the season total but tough losses.

St. Ignatius ran into a buzz saw that cut them up in the first quarter. The Wolfpack worked to get up shots that did not fall. It was 16-2 at the end of the first quarter. The Rams wouldn’t let them back in. It seemed they enjoyed putting it on somebody for once. The Catholic League Blue schedule is brutal.

It was a special night at the Tom Winiecki Gym. Tom Winiecki, the former Gordon Tech football coach, was actually there. I have been in that gym a million times and I don’t remember seeing that many people in attendance. It was the 40th Anniversary of Gordon Tech’s 1980 state football championship. There was special half time commemoration and many members of that team were in the Gym for the celebration.

It was wonderful to see the student section break into Go Gordon Go (the Gordon Tech fight song) at the end of the celebration. One could see what it meant to the 1980 Rams. It was a special moment.

I would remiss not to mention that the girls team won the 2A Orr Sectional and will play in the Super-sectional championship on Monday evening at DeKalb High School. This is big. I believe this is Gordon/DePaul Prep’s first girls sectional championship. The girls’ head coach Sarah Zarymbski is only 23 years old but really has her girls dialed in. It must be her St. Benedict Elementary School training. We could be in Bloomington next week for the State Tournament. Just saying.

Go Rams.

DePaul Prep Season So Far, What's Next?

Ten games into the 2019-2020 season so far and the DePaul Prep Rams sport an impressive 9-1 overall record and 5-0 in the Chicago Catholic League. The Rams only loss was to #3 ranked Notre Dame. At this point last year, the Rams had an identical record with their only loss being to Benet Academy.

On the eve of the second phase of the season, the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic, the Rams record is not entirely unexpected given the schedule so far. But I am particularly impressed with how the Rams have won. They have not played like a young team making a lot of mistakes. They rarely trail in games. They just go about their business and methodically take down opponents. Not flashy. Not frantic. Businesslike, steady and determined.

Tyler Johnson has stepped up as the team’s main scorer. And score he does. I don’t have exact stats (which is a weakness of this report but I can’t take photos and keep stats). Tyler must be averaging over 20 points a game. Lance Mosley is solid as a rock in terms of points, defense and rebounds. His three point shooting propelled the Rams to victory against Leo on Friday.

Rasheed Bello has impressed as well. I didn’t get to sophomore games last year. I heard he was good and that the coaches were very high on him, but I hadn’t seen him. I have seen him now. There was a moment in the Providence game early in the third quarter when the Rams were in the midst of a 22-0 run, with the game well in hand and the Rams in no real danger of losing, when I saw Rasheed Bello take off done the court trying to get back on defense as if his life depended on it. He was playing as hard as he could with the game well in hand—extra effort that one might expect at the end of an important game, late in the season.

I ought not have started writing about individual players. I don’t have the ink to write about every player. My leaving out the others is no reflection on them. It’s more of a reflection of the amateurishness of this blog. But I will say that the whole team shows a maturity that belies its tender years. 

Looking ahead to the upcoming phases, we have the Christmas tournament, the CCL schedule and then the 3A playoffs. I know I shouldn’t get ahead of myself, but that is what I do here. I indulge in the foolish luxury of playing out the season in my head and examining the possibilities.

The Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic is a good tournament. It’s well run and spectator friendly. (There is no media room with tables to work at but that’s a problem for only a few geeks like me—but a problem nonetheless that ought to be addressed!) The field is large with a couple ranked teams, DePaul, Marian Catholic, Stevenson. St. Rita, also. The Rams have made it into the final four of the tournament that last couple years, falling to eventual champion St. Rita in the semi-final in 2017 and Marian Catholic last year.

Joe Henricksen just published his holiday tournament preview basically suggesting anyone of the ranked teams, Stevenson, Marian Catholic or DePaul Prep could win. He also wrote some complimentary words about Tyler Johnson. The HCHC will be another test for the Rams.
As the bracket lines up, the Rams face Richards tomorrow night, then probably home team Hinsdale Central or Westinghouse on Thursday evening. If they get past those teams, they will have #8 ranked Marian Catholic (7-2, 1-1) on Friday night at 8:30. That will be tough. I saw Notre Dame handle Marian Catholic. Given they way the Rams played Notre Dame, I don’t see any reason to be too afraid of Marian Catholic. Get past Marian and you’re looking at #18 Stevenson or #9 Homewood-Flossmoor. Definitely doable but quite a feat if done.

Then the bulk of the season comes after the tournaments. Fourteen games in January and February including tough non-conference games against Deerfield, Peoria Manual and Benet. At the end, come the all-import Chicago Catholic League deciding games against Fenwick, Loyola and St. Ignatius. I have to think there will be a couple upsets in conference play and the top teams will come into the final games with at least one loss each leaving the head-to-head matchups to decide the League champ. It seems to always come down to beating Loyola, Fenwick and St. Ignatius. Achieving an accomplishment like winning the Catholic League is hard. Winning the Catholic League has been the goal of the season to me. When I was a kid I remember my dad talking this his school, St. Phillip, now long closed, playing in the Catholic League. It meant something him even as an old man. I have written it before and I will write it again, “First things first; win the Catholic League.”

I am not going to preview the playoffs with two thirds of the season to play. That day will come. And sooner than I would like. Only seventy-three days left in the season. Enjoy them while they last.

And as always, Go Rams.  

St. Ignatius Defeats DePaul Prep 10-2

The DePaul Prep Rams hosted the St. Ignatius Wolfpack Saturday (April 13, 2019) afternoon at Kerry Wood Field. The Wolfpack hitters were crushing the baseball, scoring two runs each in the first three innings. As is their way, the Rams keep fighting but could not come back, ultimately falling to St. Ignatius—10-2.

This had to be the high school baseball game with more well hit baseballs than any other I have seen. The Wolfpack absolutely pasted the baseball. Triple to the gap after triple to the gap after triple to the gap. St. Ignatius catcher J. Loftus hit a ball that I thought might leave Kerry Wood Field. I have never even seen one come close to hitting the fence. I had to watch to see if would go out. It didn’t.

St. Ignatius student photographer, junior Luke Hales, made his way up to the 47th Ward’s Kerry Wood Field for the game. He got some bad info on the start time and arrived a little later for the 4:00 p.m., start time. It didn’t much matter. He got some great shots. Luke is a very talented photographer and he’s like 16 years old. He knows how to operate the camera. Great color on his photos. He is developing an eye for composition.

My photos are not my best work. I struggled a little with the late afternoon light and shadows. The manual ISO was a problem. I should have gone auto. Nevertheless, shooting the game was useful. The photos might be ordinary, or worse, but I learned something.

DePaul Prep Defeats St. Ignatius 51-38

DePaul Prep Rams clinch a Chicago Catholic League Blue title with victory over Wolfpack.

Providence St. Mel Defeats St. Ignatius 62-40

I was impressed by Providence—St. Mel. For a really old building, the facility is impressive. The building was well lite and immaculate.

The gym? Not so much. The light was probably the worst I have seen in the Catholic League. It’s pretty much all about light. We all need clean, white light and lots of it.

As for the game, it was a fast game—one hour and ten minutes. It was well played, not very many fouls. The refs did a good job.

The Wolfpack came out playing well. They made some outside shots and harassed the Knights big men inside enough to make them miss a ton of shots. St. Ignatius also did a great job breaking the press early and scoring off the press break. It was 26-23 at the half.

The second half was a different story. The Knights dialed up the defense. The Wolfpack stopped scoring off the press break. They were limited to some good outside shooting. Providence St. Mel began scored inside and off the break and pulled away.

I ran a Twitter poll on which game I should go to and this game won with 42% of the vote. Really glad I went. Another gym added to my list. Saw another CCL team, St. Ignatius.

The photos are not so good. I boosted the ISO really high. I just wanted to see if I could get away with it even though I pretty much already know that 12,800 is too high. I guess I just prefer grainy photos to photos that are too dark. There are a couple good ones. The dunk by PSM’s Deion Jackson is pretty good. Love the expression on his face.

I hope you like them.