The following are posts related to specific shoots. And other things that I cannot stop myself from writing about.
The DePaul Prep Rams (32-2) defeated the Notre Dame Dons (16-18) 46-16 last night in the St. Viator 3A Sectionals semi-final. The Rams advance to play the Lake Forest Scouts on Friday at 7:00 p.m. in the sectional final.
Lake Forest handled a scrappy if undersized Ridgewood Rebels squad 59-32 in last night’s second game.
By Jack Lydon
The half time score was Belvidere North 17, Amundsen 0.
With the halftime score Belvidern North 17 and Amundsen 0, Amundsen head football coach Nick Olson said on the sideline just before the start of the second half, “Twenty-one to seventeen. Write it down, twenty-one to seventeen is the final score.”
He said it such conviction, and given the enthusiasm of his players, this reporter wasn’t sure he was wrong.
He was right about the Amundsen part, just not the Belvidere North part. The Amundsen Vikings lost to the Belvidere North 38-20 on Friday night in IHSA 6A first round playoff game.
As has been the case in recent games with the Vikings, early mistakes put them behind. Behind 7-0 after Belvidere North scored on 27-yard run around the left end by Belvidere North senior running back Joseph Brown, the Vikings were moving the ball when mishap struck.
With first and ten on their own thirty-seven, Amundsen sophomore quarterback Smith Beeson took the snap and handed the ball to the receiver in motion, except the receiver didn’t take it. Beeson dutifully continued with his fake dive up the middle. But the ball was left behind by both would be runners. No one on field seemed to notice the ball lying on the turf at midfield.
After what felt like a prison sentence, the Belvidere North defenders noticed and jumped on the ball.
It wasn’t the end. The Vikings defense held after the turnover but they couldn’t hold on the next drive. The Blue Thunder scored a second touchdown on a two-yard quarterback sneak with 3:27 left in the first quarter. The Vikings drove the field late in the second quarter but missed a field goal try.
Getting the ball back with under a minute to go in the half, the Blue Thunder and moved into Amundsen territory for their own field goal try. Alan Perez’s 38 yarder was good making the halftime score 17-0.
The third quarter was all Belvidere who brought the score to 31-0.
The remarkable part about this whole game was that there was no quit in Amundsen at any point. Down 31-0 late in the third quarter and the game clearly out of reach, Nick Olson’s Vikings were playing with the same focus and energy they had when they off the bus.
The wind died down a little in the fourth quarter and Amundsen junior quarterback Elmir Gjeka connected on a beautiful deep ball to junior wide receiver Edwin Soto who raced up the Amundsen sideline for a 68-yard touchdown.
The Vikings were not done and added two more touchdowns bringing the final score to 38-20.
The mood of the Amundsen Vikings and their fired-up coach Nick Olson after the game was parts angry, respectful, defiant and wanting a rematch, like a boxer wanting to keep fighting after having been knocked down.
“They came out and they executed. We were just sloppy on tackling tonight. Another week of poor execution,” Olson said after the game.
“I felt really good about the week of practice. The kids really responded from the lost [to Lane] last Friday night. My fellow coaches and I had a really good game plan. Tonight came down to missed tackles and missed opportunities.”
Belvidere North made few mistakes and knew what they wanted to do—run the ball. That they did.
“They passed it a hand full of times. We knew they ran a Wing T offense. They wanted to pound the rock and run it down our throat,” Olson continued.
“We felt like we had a really good game plan to stop it. Our players were there. Their players made the plays. That’s what it came down to.”
The Vikings have a bright future. “We finished in fifth play [in the sixteen team] Red Division, just behind Lane. They thought we would just come [into the Red] and get walked on. We played a lot of Blue and White [division] football over the last ten years. We are playing against 7A and 8A schools, Taft and Lane Tech, that have almost triple our enrollment,” Olson said about moving up into the CPL Red Division.
“But we are not scared of hard work here at Amundsen. Our message in the off season is ‘close the gap.’ We know other teams are going to have more players. We know other teams are going to have better athletes. We are going to close the gap by working really hard.”
Belvidere North moves on to the second round and will face either Wauconda or Grant.
Amundsen moves on to the Prep Bowl playoffs next week.
One can find another story and photos from the game at: https://www.rrstar.com/picture-gallery/sports/2023/10/28/photos-belvidere-high-school-football-defeats-amundsen-38-20/71357151007/
“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.
The DePaul Prep Rams (23-14, 8-8) landed in Rockford for the IHSA 2A baseball super-sectional against the Byron Tigers. The convincing 13-3 win sends the Rams to the State Finals in Peoria this coming weekend.
Before, during and after the game, the Rams were loose. Didn’t seem like a super-sectional. Just like another game. Just fun to play baseball. Not so much for Sam Colon, the Rams’ first-year manager. His normal easy going demeanor seemed a bit more focused, serious, businesslike.
And land on the Byron Tigers the Rams did with four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Byron rallied with three in the top of the second. That’s about as good as they had. The Rams just put it on them after that. Three in the bottom of the second. Another in the fourth. Three more in the fifth and two in the bottom of the sixth for a walk off ten run slaughter rule victory.
Senior pitcher, the always focused and businesslike Robert Rivera pitched well. Rivera struggled in the top of the second. A balk with nobody out and men on first and third scored the Tigers’ A. Lorenz from third.
“I just thought shake it off. Being the pitcher on the mound, you’re the leader. I have hold my composure and show everyone it’s not going to phase me. Even letting in those three runs, I knew I could fight back,” Rams’ pitcher Robert Rivera said.
“I changed up my mechanics. I went to stay closed longer. I started leaning more toward the plate. It helped me control my curveball. It really upped my [velocity] on my fastball too.”
The three runs in the top of the second were the only runs he would allow.
At bat, the whole team contributed--total team victory. Michigan commit and the fastest man on the field, AJ Garcia had a hit, a stolen base and two walks scoring three runs. Vance Kurakowa had a hit and run scored. Catcher Oliver Vigerust was hit by a pitch, had a hit and a base-on-balls. First baseman Kevin O’Connor had a huge game with three hits, two RBI’s and a walk. Griffin Horne had a hit and scored two runs. Beni Espinosa had three hits, four RBI’s, scored two runs and a walk. Third baseman Cameron Klein three hits and an RBI. Carter Levine two hits and three RBI’s, not to mention a spectacular diving catch in right field. Addison Latko had two hits, including a legged out triple and gapper in right center, and scored a run, but no homeruns today.
As hurtful as the super-sectional loss to Byron by the DePaul Prep womens’ basketball team was in March, this emotional super-sectional victory for the Rams took some of the sting out of it.
“I told Sarah [Zarymbski, girls basketball coach and 2014 Gordon Tech classmate of the Sam Colon] that we would get some revenge for her,” Rams head coach Sam Colon said after the game.
“This team has got all the talent in the world. It’s a matter of can you put it all together in a year. Our first goal was to win the [Chicago Catholic] League [White]; we put ourselves in a position to get there. We didn’t get there. The next goal was to get a second season. The expectation was to get to Peoria. Now it’s to win it.”
It’s third trip to State for the Rams so far this year. Mitch Baum’s boys’ cross-country team won a state title in November. Tom Kleinschmidt’s boys’ basketball team won the 2A basketball state title in March. Now it’s Sammy’s turn.
The Rams will face the Columbia High School Eagles (30-4), from south of St. Louis, at the Peoria Chiefs’ stadium, Dozer Park, on Friday at 3:00 p.m. The other state semi-final will feature Joliet Catholic v. Quincy Notre Dame. The Championship game will be Saturday at 5:30.
The DePaul Prep Rams are peaking at the best time of the season. They handled the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes 45-17 in the IHSA 2A semi-final in Champaign. I was told that 17 points is the lowest point total in IHSA playoff history. Teutopolis struggled to even get shots up. This was probably the Rams best performance of the year.
The Rams difficulties in the Chicago Catholic League, going 6-7 in the Blue, were clearly frustrating, even disconcerting, for the Rams and their fans.
“We got the injuries when we had Rita, Mount Carmel and DeLaSalle so we took our lumps early,” said DePaul head coach Tom Kleinschmidt. “But we learned from that. And now we are a little bit seasoned.”
Advancing in such dominant fashion to the state championship game must be satisfying, even vindicating, for the Rams. But even more than that, the Rams and their coach Tom Kleinschmidt clearly want it. They are driven to get this championship.
The defensive effort of the Rams, particularly in the second half, was something really special--truly a historic defensive effort. Teutopolis did not score in the fourth quarter. Their seventh and final point came midway through the third quarter.
“We executed our game plan. We fronted the post on the big. We wanted to turn them into passers with back side help. We shaded [Teutopolis’s Brayden Niebrugge and Garrett Gaddis]. We wanted to make the other guys score on us. [Teutopolis’s James Niebrugge, Brayden’s cousin] hurt us,” Kleinschmidt continued.
“We wanted to run that clock in the fourth quarter. So we called a longer set. We wanted to take a minute and a half [off the clock with every possession] and have them chase us. We wanted to wear them down where they had to chase and foul. And then we could do what we did, flash and get back door cuts.”
DePaul’s senior guard Maurice Thomas nearly beat Teutopolis himself with sixteen points. Junior forward Jaylan McElroy had ten points. PJ Chambers with seven. Payton Kamin with six. Jonas Johnson and Henry West each with exclamation point buckets at the end. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention senior Dane Barkley’s beautiful no look assist to Henry West with 1:12 left.
The Rams advance to face the Bloomington Central Catholic Saints on Saturday in the 2A state championship game at 12:45.
Be careful what you wish for. Bloomington Central Catholic defeated Rockridge 57-44 in the other semi-final. The Saints have Cole Certa. Certa finished with nineteen points, sixteen of which came in the second half. If you have not heard of Certa, you soon will. The heavily recruited junior guard is the third highest rated 2024 prospect in Illinois behind only St. Rita’s Morez Johnson and James Brown.
Stay tuned. The Rams will have to duplicate, or maybe improve their defensive effort to bring home the school’s first basketball state championship.
The DePaul Prep Rams (19-12) defeated the Michele Clark Eagles (19-7) 62-42 Wednesday evening in the 2A Christ the King sectional semi-final.
It was so nice to see Payton Kamin and Jaylan McElroy playing at a high level again. The Rams meshed into the team we hoped we would see when the season started. The injuries to Payton and Jaylan put all that on hold. Until tonight.
Payton had twelve of his twenty-eight points in the first quarter. The Rams really needed that. Getting down in the first quarter hasn’t work out well in recent games. Tom Kleinschmidt teams always play better with a lead. I suppose all teams do. I just mean that I cannot recall the Rams blowing a lead of eight or ten points. And I have seen most of the Gordon Tech/DePaul Prep games since 2013 or so.
Jaylan MeElroy was back too. I had him with eleven points. I don’t know how many rebounds but it was a lot. He was a presence in the lane on defense. Again, I don’t know how many blocks but a good number. A really nice job.
Terry Head’s Clark Eagles are good. Senior Cordy Johnson is a force and not afraid to drive the lane into Jaylan McElroy. The Eagles were taking it to the Rams in first quarter. The Rams were in the bonus not too long into the first quarter. Five of the Rams’ sixteen first quarter points were from free throws. No one is going to out physical the Rams; not with McElroy and Kamin back in the lineup. Such a strategy just sends them to the line. Usually not a good idea.
Ultimately, it was Payton Kamin’s emergence as a dominate scorer that buried the Eagles. Kamin’s twenty-eight on top of the usual production from Reece Thomas, PJ Chambers and Makai Kvamme worked out well. Sophomore point guard Makai Kvamme’s performance deserves a mention. Although Kvamme didn’t lead the scoring he reliably brought up the ball against the Eagles determined full court pressure. He gets better every game.
Eight fourth quarter free throws from Kamin didn’t really seal the victory; the game was mostly decided by the Rams’ third quarter defense. But Kamin’s free throws just took the life out of the Eagles. And it pushed the Rams lead to twenty points.
The Rams face North Lawndale (15-11) on Friday for the sectional championship. The North Lawndale coaches in attendance got a look at a Rams team they might not have expected to be back at full force. The only common opponent for the Rams and Phoenix is Clark. North Lawndale defeated Clark 61-55 in December.
Nice to be playing one’s best basketball going into the sectional championship.
See you Friday.
By Jack Lydon
The DePaul Prep Rams fell to the Byron Tigers 52-45 in 2A Super-sectional at the Elgin Community College Monday night. Two disciplined and evenly matched teams put on an exciting game that demonstrated the high level basketball one expects to see in a Super-sectional match up.
Byron jumped out to an early 12-4 lead not because they were especially dominating but mostly because DePaul we not hitting inside shots they ordinarily would. The Rams were able to crack the impressive 1-3-1 zone defense the Tigers threw at them; they just rushed some shots and could not take advantage.
On the other end, the Tigers were able to finish just enough layups early when they penetrated the Rams defense to grab the early lead.
“We tell the kids and we have learned the hard way. We want to stay even the whole game. We don’t want to get too high to start. We feel like we play tight if we get too high and you can’t keep the up for the whole game,” Byron head coach Eric Yearly said.
“We also talked about starting fast. When you come to a Super [sectional game], one team is nervous, and if you can jump out early, it makes it tough to come back and overcome a deficit from the beginning. We jumped out early. When you have a seven-point cushion it makes it a little easier.”
Despite the Tigers’ fast start, the Rams settled down and outscored Byron in the second quarter. DePaul senior Nora Leadstrom had thirteen points in the first half keeping the Rams close.
In the second half, the Rams rallied and eventually cutting the Tigers’ lead to two points with under four minutes left in the fourth quarter.
“They brought the pressure up in the zone and they got us,” admitted DePaul Prep Coach Sarah Zarymbski. Down two, the Rams lost a few turnovers resulting in fast break points that stretched Byron’s lead.
As the clock ticked down, “[DePaul] extended their defense and we were able to get some back cut layups. Our kids come over in the huddle and said ‘the back cuts are open so get your eyes up,’”said Yearly.
“Once you get it under two [minutes], you gotta make your free throws. We made enough to win. “They are a good team. They are the best team we have played all year. We are the mirror image of each other. We have great posts and great guard play. We just happened to be the one that came out on top,” Yearly continued.
Losing three super-sectionals in a row is tough for the Rams. An emotional Coach Zarymbski took the loss hard but kept it together after the game. Zarymski, the 26 year-old, fourth year coach, has been impressive in her short tenure.
“We did a lot this season that we have never done. Most wins in program history. A GCAC regular season title and we are young,” Zarymbski said.
Byron moves on to 2A State Final at ISU on Thursday and will face CPS Noble charter school Butler in the semi-final.
Preview of my piece in Inside Publications coming out Wednesday:
The Harlem high school Huskies (7-3, 6-3) defeated the Amundsen Vikings (7-3, 7-0) 35-21 at Winnemac Stadium on Saturday. Huskies’ third-year head coach, Bob Moynihan, brought his team from Machesney, Illinois, (just north of Rockford) down to Chicago, expecting to take care of business against a CPS team and get out of town.
Bob is actually a high school classmate of mine. He was a legendary defensive lineman for the St. Viator Lions a few years back—okay, a few decades back—who later played college football at Southeast Missouri State.
Speaking to Moynihan before the game, he asked me what to expect.
“Watch out for #11 [Adam Muench],” I told him. “Teams have been trying to stop him all year. And Amundsen will score. You will need to run the ball,” I added.
“That we can do,” Moynihan said. And so they did. The Huskies ran the ball effectively all day. Keeping the productive Viking offense off the field.
The Huskies opened the scoring midway through the first quarter on a rushing touchdown by sophomore running back Jahmani Muhammad.
The Vikings answered on the next drive. Amundsen’s Jamarion Hemphill ran in a 15-yard touchdown at the 4:42 mark of the first quarter. The 7-7 score at the end of the first quarter was something of an anomaly for playoff games by CPS teams this year. Amundsen put up more of a fight than other similarly situated teams. Lane, Senn, Lincoln Park, Schurz, Perspectives and Bulls Prep all suffered blowouts at the hands of suburban powerhouses.
The Vikings blocked a punt early in the second quarter but could not capitalize. The also traded interceptions. Even so the Huskies rushing attack proved effective and they put up two more rushing touchdowns making the halftime score 21-7.
Despite giving up two more touchdowns in the third quarter, the Vikings never quit. Early in the fourth, Jamarion Hemphill burst up the middle and down the west sideline for a 50-yard touchdown.
The Vikings were not done. A second interception and lengthy return by Amundsen’s sophomore safety Edwin Soto set up a 10-yard touchdown by Adam Muench on a brilliantly executed sweep. Jamariam Hemphill followed with a two-point conversion. The Vikings were within striking distance at 35-21 with plenty of time left in the fourth.
It wasn’t to be. Moynihan and his Huskies did what they intended to do—run the ball and take time off the clock. The Huskies finally took a knee down at Amundsen’s goal line as the game ended.
Amundsen’s head coach Nick Olson was emotional after the game. Taking a long time to talk to his players and take some photos with his group of seniors, he thanked his players and coaches.
“I always tell the boys wins and losses are a dime a dozen. I can live with losing. I am going to win some more in life; I am going to lose some more in life. It’s how you handle it. It’s just so heart breaking because these seniors are never going to suit up for this level of football again. That’s the toughest part of it. It’s over. This team will never be the same. But they are leaving a legacy. Every year after we get in the playoffs, we have gotten better. We are not getting blown out anymore. Teams have to respect us,” said Amundsen head coach Nick Olson.
“I attribute a lot of our success to the support of our administration, the full support they have in me to run the program the way I see fit,” continued Olson.
“The assistant coaches have made all the difference this year. Those are the guys behind the success this year. This is not on me; this is on the team.”
This is if for the Vikings. They will be participating in the CPS city championship playoffs.
Harlem moves on to play Grayslake North at home in the second round of the 6A playoffs.
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.
The St. Ignatius Wolfpack fell to Springfield’s Sacred Heart-Griffin 50-39 in the IHSA 3A Semi-final. The Wolfpack hung around all game but SHG proved a little too much in the end. Richard Barron’s injury hurt the Wolfpack. A.J. Redd’s 14 points lead St. Ignatius.
That was tough but then the Wolfpack drew Simeon after Metamora upset of the Wolverines in the following semi.
I wish I could have staying in Champaign for that third place game. The Wolfpack come up with 61-59 victory over Simeon. The IHSA didn’t even post the box score. I will have to look it up on You Tube.
Here are the photos from the Sacred Heart-Griffin game.
The Nashville Hornets (28-4) defeated the DePaul Prep Rams (26-6) in double overtime in the IHSA 2A Semi-final in Champaign Thursday afternoon. The Rams rallied to defeat Rockridge Rockets 41-22 in the third-place game.
The Nashville/DePaul Prep game was a defensive battle of historic proportions. Reputed to be the lowest scoring game in IHSA finals history. It was the Rams lowest point total of the season.
The Nashville Hornets from far southern Illinois, about fifty-five miles east of St. Louis, play defense. Hornets’ coach Patrick Weathers described their style of basketball as “winning ugly.”
“[DePaul Prep] executes very differently than a lot of teams in the City. I think that help us. We are not built for a track meet. When they want to keep the game in the thirties and forties, and we don’t have to score fifty or sixty points to win the game that is an advantage for us. It gives us a change. Keep the game close at the end and give ourselves a chance to will at the end, that’s all we can ask for,” Coach Weathers said.
Nashville’s defense was remarkable. The double overtime game was the equivalent of five eight-minute quarters. The Hornets held the Rams to five points in the final two quarters combined.
Even more remarkable is that the Hornets five starters played the entire game and two overtime periods. There were no substitutions. The same five players Saxton Hoepker, Kilton Gajewski, Carter Schoenherr, Holan Heggemeier and Isaac Turner played the whole game at a historic defensive level.
“It’s obvious. We didn’t shoot well. We didn’t score. We took them out of a lot of things. At the end of the game . . . We didn’t get some loose balls. There were two offensive rebounds we did not come up with. There were just a little quicker to the ball late and they made plays. It was a battle. All the credit goes to Nashville. Really well coached team. Kids really play well together,” DePaul Prep Coach Tom Kleinschmidt said after the game.
If there is a good part about losing in a semi-final, it’s that one gets to play in a third-place game with a chance to go out a winner. The DePaul Prep Rams did that in the last state 3A finals in 2019. They lost to Bogan in the semi but won third-place against Peoria Manual.
This year, the Rams drew Rockridge (26-8) from Taylor Ridge, Illinois, a few miles west of Moline, in the third-place game. Rockridge lost in the first game to Monticello.
The Rams and Rockets traded buckets in the first quarter but in the second, the Rams edged ahead with points off the bench from Maurice Thomas.
The third quarter proved the difference. An 8-2 run in the third put the Rams ahead for good as they inexorably extended their lead to a 41 to 24 final score to win third place in the state in state for the second time in three tries.
Does winning third place take the sting out of losing in the semi?
“Well, ya. The kids went out winners. [They can say] their last game was a win. We set a school record for wins. For this group to be around for two trips downstate and last year’s number one ranking, that’s a hell of a three years,” Kleinschmidt said.
Dylan Arnett lead the scoring for the Rams with ten points. Every Ram played. Junior Maurice Thomas had 7. Sophomores starters Payton Kamin and Jaylan McElroy each had 6. Senior Will Brown had 5, including a big three early to open the scoring for the Rams. Henry West had 3 points. Seniors Julian Green Trevon Thomas had 2 each.
Only three months until the Riverside-Brookfield Summer Tournament.
The DePaul Prep Rams (25-5) defeated the Leo Lions (25-5) 50-43 in overtime at Joliet Central High School on Monday evening to punch their ticket to the IHSA 2A State Finals starting Thursday.
The Rams graduated all five seniors after last year’s COVID season that saw the Rams end the season ranking #1. That meant five new starters including two sophomores, Jaylan McElroy and Payton Kamin, that would lead this year’s Rams. It was those sophomores that stepped up when it counted in overtime against 6th ranked Chicago Catholic League champs Leo to send the Rams to Champaign.
Leo came out of the gate in the first quarter hitting on all cylinders. Their full court press stymied the Rams forcing turnover that turned into points. Leo star player Cam Cleveland hit outside shots. The Lions crashed the boards. It was all Leo, in all phases. 22-7 at the end of the first quarter.
That’s actually been a thing lately. Orr had a lead. Clark had a lead. The Rams have just been starting slow.
But star they did. A quick three to open the second quarter and it continued. The Rams outscored Leo 14-5 in second quarter making it 27-21 Leo at the half. It had turned into a game, anybody’s to win.
It was the third quarter that turned the game around. The Rams turned up the defense, cut down on the turnovers and hit shots outscoring the Lions 12 to 3 in the third going into the fourth quarter with a 33-30 lead.
When the Rams get a lead, even a small one, they are tough to overcome. But the sixth ranked Lions are no ordinary team. The Lions rallied, tying the score at 39 with 1:09 to play.
DePaul Prep’s star center Dylan Arnett picks up two questionable charging calls in quick succession and fouled out.
“That’s the first time I have fouled out this year,” Dylan Arnett said.
“You can’t really argue with the refs. If they make the call, they make the call. You just have to dial back the aggressiveness a little bit and play as hard as you can.”
“When Dylan fouled out, I just knew I had to rebound and box out and help my team win,” DePaul Prep sophomore Payton Kamin said.
McElroy too was matter of fact about the end of the game. When Dylan fouled out, “I had no other choice. It was either that or go home. I choose to stay,” said McElroy.
1:09 to play, tied at 39 and Leo had the ball.
DePaul’s senior guard Julian Green came back in for Arnett. This was the time for the sophomores to step up. 6’9” sophomore Payton Kamin moved down low on boards to fill-in for Arnett. The Rams defense held. The Lions failed to get up a shot to win the game.
Overtime.
Five straight points from Jaylan McElroy—including a huge breakaway dunk—to open the four-minute overtime put the Rams ahead for good.
The “hail mary” pass off the inbound was a designed inbound play. “Coach wrote it up perfectly for me to go down there and get it. I just got it,” McElroy said.
The sophomores picked up their team. They did what needed to be done. They lived up to standards set by last year’s five seniors that won it all.
How did they do it?
“Defense. We gave up twenty-eight points in the first half. We give up thirty-three a game. We gave up three in the third quarter and then we got on the glass,” DePaul Prep coach Tom Kleinschmidt said after the game.
“As bad as we played in the first half, we missed six or seven free throws. If we make half of those, it’s a three-point game. We went in the locker room happy down six nothing.”
“A big part of it was our two sophomores Jaylan and PK. They did a great job on the boards being really physical. They really stepped up today.”
Next will be Nashville at 4:00 p.m., on Thursday in State Finals at the University of Illinois’ State Farm Center in Champaign.
“I haven’t thought about [where we go from here]. We will find out who we are playing. We have tape on everybody. We will go home tonight and cut it up. And then we will have a good game plan tomorrow and practice. Then walk through and then we will go,” Kleinschmidt said after winning the Super-sectional.
“Thirty-two years ago, I was down there playing as a junior so I am looking forward to that.”
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.
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.
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.
The Immaculate Conception Catholic Prep defeated the DePaul Prep Rams in two sets to win the IHSA Regional on Thursday evening (October 28, 2021).
I don’t know much about volleyball but the IC Knights played vary well as it appeared to me.
The new configuration of the court limited where I could shoot from. But I found a good spot. I hope you like the photos.
“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!
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.
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!
The Fremd High School Vikings defeated the Lincoln Way West Warriors 58-47 on Saturday (March 7, 2020) at ISU’s Redbird area to win the IHSA 4A State Championship.
See a full story about the game at IL Preps Insider (click here). It was great to get to work again with Luke Druze from IL Preps Insider. No one knows more about girls high school basketball than him. I sat next to him during the third place games and he filled me in. We’re gonna have to do more of that next year.
It’s just a pleasure to go to ISU for the girls championships. The Redbird area has great light. The facilities are first class. The IHSA does a great job putting on the event. I really enjoyed it.
And the games were great. Simeon made a remarkable comeback against powerhouse Morton. I know this is cliche but I was sad that some teams had to lose. The Morton Potters were crushed by their loss. The Lincoln Way West Warriors were equally devastated by their loss to Fremd.
God willing I will be back next year. However, we are looking at a whole new format next year with all four classes on the same weekend and probably in Champaign.
