jacklydon.com Website Review by Jared Polin

I have been watching his You Tube channel for years now. I respect his talent and his opinions. It’s not like he did me a personal favor. He does for anyone who asks (and pays him a modest sum). Early this year, Jared Polin, a You Tuber, photographer, content creator, etc., reviewed my website on video and let me have it.

My website has been basically the same since I started it about four and a half years ago, December 2017. I started publishing my photos and stories in the Center Square Journal about ten years ago. That local new website became Chicago Bulldog Media. I posted my photos on its website and Facebook page but unfortunately that paper went under too. Then the PublicLeague.com. It went under too. Then IL Preps Insider. Luke Druze gave that up a year or so ago. I don’t have good luck with publishers. I tend to kill them off.

Now I write for Inside Publications and mostly publish my photos on this website. Inside has been around for a while. It is a proper print publication and will undoubtedly survive, even with me on board.

My website has been the same for far too long. I played around with changes several times but I always liked what I had better. Late last year I saw that Jared Polin was offering critiques of photos and websites so I signed up. He actually did this critique about eight months ago. In typical fashion, I am just now getting around to posting it and changing the website now.

The video is posted here. I thought I would leave the website as is so my readers could look at it after watching the video and judge for themselves. My plan is to changer the website not look after the video is released. so you can decide for yourselves is the changes were beneficial. Let me know what you think. Let me know what you think of Jared’s critique and let me know what you think of the changes I will make.

Riverside Brookfield Summer Shootout Day 2

These are my photos from Day 2 of the Riverside Brookfield Summer Shootout. I only saw parts of a few games of Day 2.

Kenwood v. East St. Louis. Kenwood’s Bryce Heard impressed in a high energy, wide open, up and down the floor dismantling of East St. Louis.

DePaul Prep v. O’Fallon. The Rams new starting line-up feature three juniors and two sophomores. Even so the Rams handled O’Fallon squad I know little about.

Lincoln Park v. Stevenson. The Lincoln Park Lions had no numbers on their jerseys. That makes it hard to put a name to a face. Too bad too because the Lions played very well against Stevenson. It will just take a little doing to get to know these putative kings of the jungle,

DePaul Prep v. Simeon. The young Rams were blown out by the talented and experienced Wolverines featuring the new Loyola commits Wesley and Miles Rubin. DePaul Prep coach Tom Klienschmidt will no doubt use this a motivational tool for his young team that will face tremendous competition in the Chicago Catholic League Blue Division in the coming season.

2022 Riverside Brookfield Summer Shootout Opens

The 19th Annual Riverside Brookfield Summer Shootout opened this afternoon. It felt good to be back. Not very many teams from my coverage area are in the tournament. It’s basically, just Lane, Lincoln Park and DePaul Prep. So I could get to see some other teams.

Lake Forest v. St. Rita. The first game I saw was Lake Forest v. St. Rita. I got a look at Asa Thomas and Nojus Indrusaitis. They are as advertised. The Mustangs did not have their big men but they didn’t seem to need them. St. Rita is going to be something to watch this year. The Chicago Catholic League Blue will be loaded.

Lane v. St. Ignatius. Shaheed Solebo looked bigger, faster and stronger. He is only a junior but the “Champions” are his team. Lane jumped out to a big early lead. Ignatius came around and gained the lead at 12:11 in the second half and would not give it up. Richard Barron and Jackson Kotecki were too much for the Champions. St. Ignatius 57, Lane Tech 54.

Lane did not fair much better against Burlington Central in their second game. It was my first look at Burlington Central. They can play. Burlington Central 56, Lane Tech 46.

Matt Monroe’s Wolfpack, fresh off a 3A Third Place finish last year, brings back some key players from his historic year, Richard Barron, Jackson Kotecki and Emmitt O’Shaughnessy. I got my first look at sophomore Phoenix Gill. Gill looks like he will fill in nicely for A. J. Redd. Oh, and the Wolfpack will be in the CCL Blue this year.

Glenbard West v. Tinley Park. Glenbard West dominated last year. I got my first look at them at R-B last year. They were the talk of the event then and went on to win 4A. How would there team be this year? Last year’s leader and putative point guard Caden Pierce, now graduated, was on the bench for support. But let’s just say they are not last year’s team. Not the same length on defense. Not any length on defense. Athletic, well coached but not the same team.

St. Laurence v. Morton. St. Lawrence looks good. Very athletic. The coach I was sitting next thought there are a year away.

Mount Carmel v. St. Viator. The Caravan’s junior forward Angelo Ciarovino was the player to watch. He had some early points and one sequence of two straight blocks. Deandre Craig impressed as well.

More tomorrow including DePaul Prep and Lincoln Park. Get there early. Parking is tough.

Riverside Brookfield Summer Shootout Preview

By Jack Lydon

Riverside Brookfield Summer Shootout is the start of basketball season, for me at least. And so it begins.  R-B and its driving force Mike Reingruber, will host 72 “top area teams” on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Play opens Friday at noon with games across six courts. The complete Friday and Saturday schedule is available here. Sunday here.

72 area high schools will participate along with several from the St. Louis area—Belleville Althoff, Belleville East, Belleville West, East St. Louis and O’Fallon. As for the top teams, who know who those teams are at the moment?

There are a number powerhouses from last year, such as 4A State Champion Glenbard West, 1A State Champion Yorkville Christian, 4A runner-up Whitney Young, 3A third-place St. Ignatius, 3A fourth place Simeon, 2A third place DePaul Prep.

But that was last year, star seniors have moved on to college programs, the new senior class comes front and center.

I have learned over several years going to R-B that these games are not regular high school games. It like the summer leagues where one gets a glimpse of the new starters playing offense and not a ton of defense. I got to see the highly-touted young players about to make there impact.

To the untrained eye, R-B can look like just another basketball tournament. So I am doing some research to find out who to watch. This year’s top seniors at R-B include Darrin Ames (Kenwood), Asa Thomas (Lake Forest), Cameron Christie (Rolling Meadows), Dalen Davis (Whitney Young) and Miles and Wesley Rubin (Simeon). There are a good number of juniors to see at R-B that will impact there teams and conference play including James Brown (St. Rita), Morez Johnson (St. Rita), Jaden Smith (Kenwood), Payton Kamin (DePaul Prep), Jaylen McElroy (DePaul Prep) and Shaheed Solebo (Lane Tech).

As for what teams to keep and I eye, I am of course interested in the teams in my coverage area, Lane Tech, Lincoln Park and DePaul Prep. The freshly re-named Lane Tech “Campions” will feature junior standout Shabeed Solebo. Lincoln Park looks to overtake Lane as the top northside school in CPS’s tough Red-West/North division under third-year coach Antwon Jennings. Tom Kleinschmidt reloads after another historic state playoff run with emerging stars Payton Kamin, Jaylen McElroy. DePaul Prep’s sophomore Jonas Johnson will be fun to watch too.

Then there are top teams to look at and see what they have coming back. I don’t do rankings. Understand, I typically cover Chicago Catholic League and Chicago Public League games. I get out to some ESCC and Evanston games when I can. These are a mix of top teams from last year and teams that I have seen over the past few years that are on the rise. So in no particular order:

Glenbard West. It should be interesting to see what Glenbard West can do after its historic season. Can Jason Opoka recreate the defensive length of Pierce, Huff, Durkin, Renfro and Warden?

Leo. After winning the Chicago Catholic League last year but losing the 2A Super-Sectional to CCL rival DePaul Prep, the Lions look to take another step. With returning stars Jared Gee, Tyler Smith and Jakeem Cole, Jarrod Gee and Tyler Smith, the Lions should be ready to make another deep run.

St. Rita. Is this the year for the Mustangs to bolt to top of the Catholic League Blue and makes it past Kenwood and Whitney Young in 4A? With two top ranked players, James Brown and Morez Johnson, the Mustangs their best chance in years. But will it be enough?

St. Ignatius. Coming out of the gate last season with a #4 Sun-Times ranking, he Wolfpack were in the spotlight. Some early season struggles with character building last second losses got them ready for a deep run in 3A and a third in State finish. Matt Monroe brings back key players Richard Barron and Jackson Kotecki. Even with the graduation of A. J. Redd, the Wolfpack should be very good and highly ranted.

DePaul Prep. And then there is DePaul Prep. After the 2020 COVID season, he Rams lost all five starters including standout and recent transfer to U. C. Davis, TY Johnson. Nevertheless, Tom Kleinschmidt plugged in recent Cleveland State re-commit Dylan Arnett, Trevon Thomas, sophomore standouts Payton Kamin and Jaylen McElroy, Julian Green and Anthony Gutierrez. That group battled in the CCL Blue and ran through 2A dropping Orr, Michelle Clark and Leo to make it to Champaign finishing third.

That was last year. This year is up to the still very young Rams, including Kamin and McElroy, Will O’Shields, Maurice Thomas and perhaps highly regarded sophomore Jonas Johnson. No easy road for the Rams in the CCL Blue with St. Rita, Mt. Carmel, Brother Rice, Leo and the always tough Loyola Ramblers.   

Kenwood. Then there is the Chicago Public League. Kenwood made believers out of me. I saw them handle Curie at Curie. Highly rated Darrin Ames and Davius Loury return. Expect Kenwood to be at or near the top of the Red-South/Central in February and highly ranked to start the season.  

Whitney Young. Whitney Young is Whitney Young. Dalen Davis and Marcus Pigram return. Tyrone Slaughter will reload and be back.

Simeon. It will be a fun season with Robert Smith’s victory lap. We will get a look at Simeon as the Wolverines take on DePaul Prep at 3:30 on Friday at R-B. Aviyon Morris, Jalen Griffith, Wesley Rubin and Miles Rubin return. This group will want to win for their legendary coach’s final tour.

So there you go, a look at a few teams that will play at R-B. Get out there early. Parking is . . . difficult.

Correction. I previously identified Timothy Christian’s Ben Vanderwall as Yorkville Christian’s Jaden Schutt. Yorkville Christian was not at the 2021 Riverside Brookfield Shootout. My apologies.

Timothy Christian’s Ben Vanderwall at 2021 Riverside Brookfield Summer Shootout

Amundsen Falls to St. Patrick 5-2 in 3A Regional Final

I wasn’t able to give this game the full treatment with a published story because of other commitments but I am so glad I could get to the game. I have been following Amundsen baseball largely because of the plight of their filed in Winnemac Park. But that’s now the story. This scrappy young squad from the formerly 47th Ward school, now 40th Ward, is the real story, They put together and excellent season with solid performance even in defeat, particularly against Lane and yesterday against St. Patrick.

Watch out for them next year. Now that the turned some heads, I suspect they will get a lot more attention.

As I tweeted, these young Vikings will raid the Northside and vanquish the hapless schools unprepared for attack. I know this is not the ninth century coast of Europe, but CPS schools ought start building their round towers now if they hope to survive next spring.

Now with that said about the Vikings, the Shamrocks have an excellent squad. Their picking was fantastic. I wasn’t scoring the game and neither team was feeding the Gamechanger app so I don’t have stats. But they did not give up many hits.

The Shamrocks line-up was solid top to bottom, their defense was sold and I didn’t catch too many base running mistakes. They took advantage of a disastrous third inning where the Vikings gave up three runs on some throwing errors.

I hope you like the photos. (And forgive my clumsy Norse analogies.)

Chris Haas Leaves DePaul Prep to Be AD at IC Catholic

We learned today that DePaul’s Prep’s head baseball coach and teacher is leaving to become the athletic director at IC Catholic high school in Elmhurst.

After seventeen years at Gordon Tech and DePaul Prep, Chris is moving up. I know coaches and teachers coming and going from high schools normal but I can scarcely conceive of DePaul Prep without Chris Haas. When my kids started at Gordon, Chris was the Bill Jeske’s offensive coordinator, he was at every home basketball game and of course, he was the manager of the very successful baseball program for GT and DePaul Prep.

With Mike Wieda, Paul Chabura, Sean Connor and now Chris Haas being snatched up by other schools, I hope the loss of all this coaching talent doesn’t hurt too much.

Best of luck Chris. Thanks for teaching and coaching my kids. We will miss you. Don’t be a stranger. I will have to get out to wherever IC Catholic is and photograph some games.

Go Rams!

DePaul Prep Falls to Timothy Christian 4-3

The DePaul Prep Rams fell to Timothy Christian 4-3 in twelve innings Monday evening in the 2A IHSA Regional Final. I am not sure I have seen a more exciting high school game. Back and forth. Extra base hits. Plays at the plate. Runs out stealing. Even a runner was hit by a batted ball—Haas was not happy.

The Rams scored in the top of the seventh to tie and then held the Trojans scoreless in the bottom of the frame to force extra innings.

Ultimately, the Rams fell in the bottom of the twelve innings. It was a great game in front of a big crowd. The Rams left it all on the field.

I wish I could give it the full treatment but just wasn’t set up to write a story about the game. I had spent the day at Wrigley for the Lane City Championship game. You will just have to settle for the photos.

Great job Rams!

At Wrigley Field for the CPS Baseball City Championship Game

I had the good fortune to cover the Lane v. Brooks CPS City Championship on Monday at Wrigley Field. I was in the photo well adjacent, really just part of the Cubs dugout. Very cool.

My article about the game which appears in today’s Inside Booster, Skyline and News Star and is also posted on this blog. I posted my photos from the game there. Many of the photos are unremarkable but I want to put them up so players and coaches might see themselves and others can get a better feeling for the action.

I parked for free in the Cubs “Camry Lot” on Grace. By chance, Quinn Harris and Kirsten Stickney pulled in behind me. Quinn and Kirsten are two of the best photographers anywhere. I have been lucky enough to get to know them some from shooting high school sports over the past few years. I have learned a great deal from them. They are wonderful people eager to help me. I greatly appreciate that.

Quinn takes the most beautifully exposed, colored and composed photos one will see anywhere. Kirsten’s gift for the reaction shot is unequaled. I try to get those shots but never come close to here level. Being there with them made it all the more special for me. Quinn took Kristen and I on a little tour of Wrigley and where to get the best shots. He shots at Wrigley quite a bit.

After the game, I was sitting at a table in the dugout working on my story and Pearl Jam’s “Someday We’ll Go All the Way” song come over the sound system. I got a little choked up.

I have known for some time that it is not advisable to both a photograph and report on the same game. When I started this amateur sports coverage stuff for Patrick Boylan and Mike Foucher’s Center Square Journal eleven years ago, I learned that if I try to do both, I do both poorly. I had to choose one or the other. I choose photography because I like it more. I am better at it than writing.

But I was at Wrigley to do a job. And so I did. I felt like a real working reporter. Frankly, it’s not something I are really up to. My wordsmithing could use plenty of help. I write these articles at the expense of my vanity, because there just isn’t enough reporting on high school sports out there. Michael O’Brien and Mike Clark can’t be everywhere.

As excited as I was to be shooting at Wrigley Field, I knew I really did not have the proper equipment to shoot a baseball game at a major league ball park. One really needs a 400mm/f 2.8 lens. My 7D with the 300mm lens is roughly that equivalent but the quality is greatly reduced—basically a poor man’s rig for the job. But that what I have, so I used it to some effect. I also have a 1Dx so its not like I don’t have good enough stuff. My failings as a photographer are not for want of good equipment. It’s just more suited to basketball.

This day, I concentrated on writing the article for Inside Publications. Throughout the game I kept asking myself, “what is the story of the game?” It didn’t take long to see that the story was how Lane Tech’s junior pitcher, Josh Katz, to over the game.

I cannot overstate how impressed I am with the poise of this young man. He is either 16 or 17 years old and yet he took the mound at Wrigley Field like a seasoned major league veteran and retired the first six batters he faced—1, 2, 3—in the first two innings.

When I spoke to him after the game, I could see just how genuinely excited and happy he was just to be playing at Wrigley Field. He did what he could to take it all in. After the game, I got some shots of him walking out into the infield in the direction of the bleachers just to soak it in.

In my questions, I brought it all back to baseball asking about what pitches he was throwing. He seemed even more excited talking about how his two-seamer was riding in on the hands of the Brooks batters.

Baseball is such a beautiful game played on the grass field between one's ears. Josh Katz gets it. His catcher Zach Shashoua gets it. Lane Tech manager Sean Freeman gets it. The whole Lane Tech Baseball Team, all 500 of them, get it.

I’m not Frank Deford or Rick Telander writing eloquently about the majesty of baseball. But I sure experienced the majesty of the game, our national pastime, at Wrigley Field on Monday. Truly a wonderful experience.

Lane Tech Defeats Brooks 2-1 at Wrigley Field to Win CPS City Baseball Championship

By Jack Lydon

The Lane Tech baseball team won the CPS city baseball championship 2-1 over Brooks Eagles Monday afternoon at Wrigley Field. 

The win came on the strength of an impressive four-hit, one run pitching performance by Lane Tech junior right-handed pitcher Josh Katz (6-0), who’s final win was for the championship over the Eagles.

But the game was not without some drama in the top of the seventh inning. 

Katz only had one earlier jam, in the top of the third, but he came through it unscathed. 

Taking a 2-0 lead into the final inning, Katz took the mound approaching a 100 pitches. 

The first two batters struck well hit singles up the middle. 

“I thought it might be the end after those two hits,” Katz said after the game. “I was just kind of trusting my stuff, being relentless, trusting my defense knowing that I have the best guys in the entire city behind me. So just being able to throw strikes, pound the zone, trust what I have done throughout the season.” 

Sun Times sports reporter Mike Clark asked Josh, “How many more pitches did you have left [at the end]?

“About five maybe, not many before we were going to have to go the bullpen,” Josh responded.

“It felt good to close that game out after going seven innings. To be able to win City, especially at Wrigley Field, it feels great.”

Katz was channeling his inner Kyle Hendricks—cool as a cucumber—coming off the Wrigley Field pitcher’s mound after setting Brooks down 1-2-3 in the first two innings.

“I was getting in my groove. I started feeling my stride and then I just continued to tell myself to throw strikes and trust my defense. That’s kind of all it is at a point, just throwing strikes and doing what I do.”

“I was mostly working the fast ball especially in the later innings. Just to be able to trust that. Today, I went with the two seam just to be able to jam their hitters.” 

Lane Baseball Team coach Sean Freeman left Katz in after the first two hitters reached in the seventh with a slender two run lead. 

“He had been throwing lights out all day, he’s been lights out for us in crunch time all year, so I had nothing but faith. We had a quite conversation when they had two guys on if we wanted to go [to the pen]. But I just told our pitching coach that it’s [Josh’s] game to lose. I have all the faith in the world in him. He has had multiple big moments throughout the year at the end of the game and he has always come through.” 

And that he did, after giving up one run, Katz got the last two batters out, and now the Lane Tech team is City Champs. 

Lane junior catcher Zach Shashoua said, “We’ve been there before. I have been playing with Josh since I was five. He’s got a fastball, a slider, a two seamer, a curveball and a change. The two seam was looking really nice today. He’s just always throwing strikes since he’s got the velocity. He found the zone, and we’re City champs.”

Lane starts IHSA 4A playoffs on Thursday as the five seed in the Glenbrook North Regional. Lane comes into the playoffs ranked 30th among 4A teams in Max Preps rankings. Don’t count out the Baseball Team especially with big time performances like today’s from Josh Katz.

DePaul Prep Advances to Regional Final with 16-4 Win Over Intrinsic Charter

The DePaul Prep Rams opened the 2021-2022 IHSA 2A Baseball playoffs against the Intrinsic Charter Mustangs. Truth be told, I never heard of Intrinsic Charter. It’s a charter school with two campuses; one in the Loop and one at 4540 West Belmont.

I have to say I was impressed with these players from Intrinsic. There were thirteen of them with two coaches. They knew it would be an uphill climb to get past the Rams. The Rams hung seven on them in the bottom of the first. But the Mustangs didn’t get down. They were enjoying themselves. Really playing for the love of the game. Some of them must have been playing their last organized baseball game ever and they were going to enjoy it. One has to respect that.

That being said, the Rams were just hitting the baseball—crushing the baseball. Anthony Martinez had a homerun, a single and two triples. Had he stopped at second base on his fifth inning triple, he would have hit for the cycle. The other guys were hitting the ball too. There were long home runs into the parking lots.

The Rams scored 16 runs in five innings. To their credit, the Mustangs scored four runs on some nicely struck extra base hits.

The Rams advance to face Timothy Christian on Saturday in the Regional Final at 4:00 p.m. at Kerry Wood Field. Get there early. There will be a big crowd.

As for the photos, I pushed the shutter speed. While there was still some daylight, I was shooting at 1/2000. The resulting extra high ISO made the photos pretty grainy with pretty tight crops I put on. I was playing around with the settings to come up with a good baseball formula. I hope you like the photos.

Amundsen Hosts Pritzker

I went over to Winnemac Park on Tuesday afternoon to see the Amundsen Vikings varsity baseball team take on the Pritzker Jaguars. The Vikings have put together an impressive 15-6 record this season. I haven’t been shooting much baseball so I really wanted to get out and see them.

Plus, I have been following the saga of the soggy condition of the Winnemac Park field and the efforts of the coaches, parents and administration to get the Park District, CPS and the local politicians to address the problem. The Winnemac Park baseball diamond needs a facelift. It doesn’t have to be Kerry Wood Field but some turf new backstops and proper drainage have to get done.

Tons of action right out of the gate. Vikings Senior left hander Konnor Kasek got into some early trouble loading the bases in the top of the first with nobody out. He battled his way out giving up only two runs.

The Vikings fought back in the next two frames taking a 5-4 lead at the bottom of the second.

Unfortunately, I could not stay for the whole game, just too much going on these days. In fact, I could not find the final score on Game Changer or Max Preps. But I was glad to finally see the Vikings. They are just not getting enough attention for as good a team as they are. I am going to have to get in the ear of Mike Clark at the Sun-Times.

I plan to get over to see Amundsen play St. Patrick in the playoffs. It will be like going back sixteen hundred years to see Norse warriors invade the Emerald Isle to vanquish the unsuspecting celts.

DePaul Prep Spring Fling

I took these photos at DePaul Prep’s Spring Fling fundraiser on Friday evening at the Rockwell on the River. DePaul Prep’s advancement director Amy Golden graciously met me at the space a week before the event so I could see what I would be dealing with and get a few test shots and get a sense of what they wanted.

I knew multiple flashes would be needed. I watched as many You Tube videos as I could stomach on flash photography at weddings. So glad I did. I got a good sense of how many flashes I would need, where to place them and most importantly, how to sync them.

I rented two Canon 600EX II-RT speedlites and an umbrella reflector for the backdrop photos.

The photos turned out better than I expected. The color of the light in the dining room was a challenge but that is what the room looked like—an orangey red bath that makes the non-flash photos look dopey. That might be nice to eat dinner by but hey people, it’s not good for photos. Let’s all just get our priorities straight here folks.

However, I am very pleased with the backdrop photos. Maybe a little over exposed but I like them that way. Since these are primarily for the web, the nice bright photos work well. At least I think so.

I hope you like them.

I would like to thank wonderful people at DePaul Prep for their trust in me. I have been very lucky that the let me photograph their events. I have been able to gain tremendous experience in a short period of time. DePaul Prep is a wonderful school with wonderful people. My children went to school there and loved it.

St. Ignatius Falls to Sacred Heart Griffin 50-39 in IHSA 3A Semi

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.

DePaul Prep Wins IHSA 2A Third Place

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.

DePaul Prep Going Downstate after 50-43 Victory over Leo

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.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“In four years of coaching?” I responded.

“Three years,” she replied.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More Photos from DePaul Prep's Regional Win over Latin

There was just a lot of cool stuff to photograph on Friday at the Tom Winiecki Gym. There was a bulging student section. The Rams welcomed Liam Collins as an honorary team. And, of course, cutting down the net after winning the home regional is always a special moment.

It took me the whole season to figure out the optimum settling on my new camera. I took and processed a ton of photos on and from Friday night’s regional championship game.

It was a great season with ups and downs, big wins and a couple disappointing losses. It was fun to see the new next generation of Ram players make and impact and the especially satisfying to see this group of seniors excel upon getting their chance to take to shine.

I hope you enjoy the photos.

Source: jacklydon.com/blog

DePaul Prep Drops Latin 58-30 for Seventh Straight Regional

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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