Lane Survives Late Charge by TF South 21-20

The plodding lackluster contest became an unlikely thriller with three quick touchdowns, a made two-pointer and a missed two-pointer all in the final three minutes of the game. The Lane Tech Champions (1-1, 0-0) traveled to Lansing, Illinois to take on the Thornton Fractional South Red Wolves and survive a late comeback by the Red Wolves to win 21-20 Friday night.

Let’s just say that until the final three minutes, this game was not exactly football at it finest. Both teams were plagued by mis-queues, injuries and penalties, and the occasional dustup too. The ineptitude both squads displayed gave way to clutch plays at the end.

Down late 14-6 late in the game, there was no quit in TF South. With three minutes left, Red Wolves’ senior quarterback Nicholas Ford launched a deep ball up the far sideline. Sophomore wide receiver Amari Dukes caught it in stride for a 63-yard touchdown to bring the Wolves to within two points. What looked like an eventual Lane win suddenly was one play away from a tie.

With the game on the line, Ford found his other wide receiver David Nkwogo at the back of the endzone for the two-point conversion to tie the game.

The Lane sideline was stunned. I think the TF South sideline was a little stunned too but cheered and danced all the same.

With 2:35 left on the clock, Lane Tech fielded South’s kickoff and returned it to their own thirty-three-yard line with time to take the lead.

This is not the three yards and a cloud of dust Lane Tech Champions of recent years. On the very next play, senior quarterback Noah Mayra took the shotgun snap and quick rifled a strike down the middle to junior wideout (and baseball player) Alex Lagges. Lagges shock a couple tackles and raced up the Lane sideline for the go-ahead score. The PAT made it 21-14 Lane. 

“This year we have some pretty good skill [players]. That was just a double post to the middle of the field and Alex [Lagges] took it 80 yard (67 actually) for a touchdown,” Lane Tech head coach Dedrick Dewalt said.

“I had the post on that,” Champion’s Alex Lagges said of his winning touchdown after the game. “I just trusted that my quarterback Noah [Mayra] was going to see it, read it. That’s what he did. That’s what we do. Great play call by my coach. He saw the middle was open. We knew if we got the shot, we could make things happen.”

One play and the Champions had the lead back with 2:16 on clock. But still plenty of time left for South. But no time outs for the Red Wolves. A couple plays for small gains took time off the clock. Then Red Wolves QB Ford scrambled and found senior wide receiver Tariq Meggs-Hood underneath the coverage who sprinted up the Lane sideline to the Lane 45-yard line.

With time ticking down to 35 seconds, Ford dropped back and launched a perfect strike to senior RB/WR Christian Streeter at the goal line for another unlikely touchdown against a prevent two deep zone defense to make the score 21-20. This time the South faithful believed it and stadium erupted.

TF South head coach Bob Padjen, never hesitated. They were going for it. Win or lose, the extra points try would decide the game.

With no time outs, the Red Wolves would need run the play quickly. Padjen called a cut back run up the middle from an overloaded and decoy formation. But the quarterback audibled to a Philadelphia Eagles style “tush push” run up the middle from the three-yard line. Initially, it looked like it was working but the Champions defensive line stiffened and stopped the Wolves a half-yard shy of victory.

The Champions move into Chicago Public League play. CPL has created a 16 team Red Division super-conference. Lane will not have to face Kenwood and Simeon this season but will have to face Morgan Park. The games against Whitney Young, Taft and Amundsen give the Champions a chance to prove undeniable mastery of the Northside. Stay tuned.

DePaul Prep Edges Lane in Volleyball Match

The DePaul Prep Rams girls volleyball team edged Lane Tech 2-1 in an early season rivalry game. The Rams move to 3-0 on the season with wins over Lincoln Park, Wheaton Academy and Lane Tech.

The Lane Tech Champions have a very talented squad, including standout freshman Sophia Polec.

The Rams took control of the first set early and handled the Champions. But there was no quit in the Champions. Despite falling well behind early in the second set, the Champions rallied late and took the set.

“They came out really competitive and they are always hungry to beat us; they are a rival. They definitely were the most aggressive team serve-wize that we have faced this season. That’s the hardest that we have had serves coming at us in a match so far this season. We had to adjust our back row,” said DePaul Prep head coach Caroline Gajzler.

Adjust they did. The Rams jumped out the their customary quick start and held off the talented Champions to take the final set 25-20.

“This is the strongest start that we have had in five years,” said Gajzler. “I told the girls that the sky is the limit for them. We have a lot of starters back from last year. We have 11 seniors on this team. I have never had this big of a roster—18. We are very deep on our bench. They are all very deserving of a spot on this team.”

It’s early in the season. Still tons of volleyball to play. But it’s a short season. IHSA playoffs in mid-October. Stay tuned.

DePaul Prep Drops Wheaton Academy in Straight Set, 25-17, 25-16

The DePaul Prep Rams girls volleyball team defeated Wheaton Academy in straight sets, 25-17 and 25-16, last evening at DePaul’s Tom Winiecki Gym. The Rams were in control from the start and looked every part of a championship team but I am getting ahead of myself.

Head coach Caroline Gajzler and her staff have the Rams playing at a high level early this season helped by a very deep bench. It looks like every player on the team could start.

As for the photos, I think the ISO was too high. One does not get a good feel for that in the camera’s small electronic viewfinder. 8000 was too much. I ended up having to use the noise reduction. It’s good but makes the photos are little too cartoonish. Don’t worry, I will get it dialed in.

Michelle Obama's Speech at the DNC Last Night.

“OK. We got a big night ahead. Thank you all so much. Thank you so much. OK. There you go.

Hello, Chicago! Yeah. All right. Something wonderfully magical is in the air, isn’t it? You know, we’re feeling it here in this arena, but it’s spreading across this country we love. A familiar feeling that has been buried too deep for far too long. You know what I’m talking about. It’s the contagious power of hope.

The anticipation, the energy, the exhilaration of once again being on the cusp of a brighter day. The chance to vanquish the demons of fear, division and hate that have consumed us and continue pursuing the unfinished promise of this great nation, the dream that our parents and grandparents fought and died and sacrificed for.

America, hope is making a comeback.

Yeah. But, to be honest, I am realizing that, until recently, I have mourned the dimming of that hope. And maybe you’ve experienced the same feelings, that deep pit in my stomach, a palpable sense of dread about the future.

And for me, that mourning has also been mixed with my own personal grief. The last time I was here in my hometown was to memorialize my mother — the woman who showed me the meaning of hard work and humility and decency, the woman who set my moral compass high and showed me the power of my own voice.

Folks, I still feel her loss so profoundly. I wasn’t even sure if I’d be steady enough to stand before you tonight, but my heart compelled me to be here because of the sense of duty that I feel to honor her memory. And to remind us all not to squander the sacrifices our elders made to give us a better future.

You see, my mom, in her steady, quiet way, lived out that striving sense of hope every single day of her life. She believed that all children, all — all people have value. That anyone can succeed if given the opportunity. She and my father did not aspire to be wealthy. In fact, they were suspicious of folks who took more than they needed. They understood that it wasn’t enough for their kids to thrive if everyone else around us was drowning.

So, my mother volunteered at the local school. She — she always looked out for the other kids on the block. She was glad to do the thankless, unglamorous work that for generations has strengthened the fabric of this nation. The belief that if you do unto others, if you love thy neighbor, if you work and scrape and sacrifice, it will pay off. If not for you, then maybe for your children or your grandchildren.

You see, those values have been passed on through family farms and factory towns, through tree-lined streets and crowded tenements, through prayer groups and National Guard units and social-studies classrooms. Those were the values my mother poured into me until her very last breath.

Kamala Harris and I built our lives on the same foundational values. Even though our mothers grew up an ocean apart, they shared the same belief in the promise of this country. That’s why her mother moved here from India at 19. It’s why she taught Kamala about justice, about the obligation to lift others up, about our responsibility to give more than we take. She’d often tell her daughter, ‘don’t sit around and complain about things. Do something.’”

I typically don’t write about politics on this blog. But I do warn readers that this blog will contain things that I cannot stop myself from writing about. I reproduce the entire text of the speech here because I can. I found and read the entire text of the speech, at the price of giving the New York Times my email address, so I could respond to a dopey post of Facebook saying that the Obamas have more than they need so why don’t they give it away. Presumably, to discredit them, their support of Kamala Harris and the content of their speeches at last night’s DNC.

What Michelle Obama said was “[her parents] understood that it wasn’t enough for their kids to thrive if everyone else around us was drowning.” She said give back. Help. Volunteer. Do the unglamorous work. Love your neighbors. DO SOMETHING.

I agree with Mrs. Obama and the Former President’s admonition in his speech to treat those who oppose us with the dignity that we wish they would extend to us. I hope I was courteous in my Facebook retort to the cleaver poster. I thought it was important to expose his false and mean spirited argument. And I don’t think it will hurt to cannot encourage others to love their neighbors at least once on the blog.

Michelle Obama at the 2024 DNC. Photo credit CBS News.

2024 Ridgewood Live Event

I just love this event. I love being able to watch two games at the same time. Ridgewood Coach Chris Mroz and his staff do such a great job. And there are so many teams. It seems unworkable but they make it work so well.

My focus is always more toward teams than individual plays. I am there to see preview of teams. And I get to see players that I won’t get to see during the season.

So—my impressions from the weekend in no particular order.

Lemont and Gabe Sularksi are good. No surprise there; just a lot more evidence. Lemont is not a team that run into often. I have seen plenty of Gabe Sularski at Benet. He is an excellent player and will lead Lemont to big season.

Marco Gonzalez leads Brother Rice. The Crusaders will be a new team. I didn’t see enough to make much of a judgment.

Lane is Lane. Nick LoGalbo always has his group ready. Too bad we can’t bottle and sell their energy; we would solve global warming. No Shaheed Solebo for the Champions but everybody else is back. Dalton Scantlebury impressed in his matchup against Rich Township and their premiere big man Al Brooks. Dalton will lead this senior heavy group. Probably the best CPL team on the Northside but can they make a deep run into the City Championship and 4A?

St. Laurence will be a top team in the Chicago Catholic League. Solid all around.

Homewood-Flossmoor may have graduated Gianni Cobb but there doesn’t seem to be much of a drop off. One of the three best teams that I saw over the weekend.

DePaul Prep is the second of the three best teams that I saw at Ridgewood. The addition of Whitney Young transfer Rykan Woo helps. And it’s not like the two-time defending state champs need a lot of help. Favorite in the Chicago Catholic League. Too early to talk about the favorite in 3A but . . .

Maybe the biggest revelation for me was St. Ignatius. The Wolfpack came into last season highly ranked and struggled with an extremely difficult schedule. That adversity seems to have turned into energy and determination. Matt Monroe’s group was just hitting everything. Phoenix Gill looks like he is ready for the NBA. Not an exaggeration. He looks ready to play in the NBA. Two well known observers that I spoke to said Gill was the best player they saw at Ridgewood. He was the best individual player that I saw.

That Wolfpack are not just Gill. Nico Harris, Chris Cittaro, Chris Bolte impressed. These guy can shoot. And then there are Will Horton, Alex Anaya and, of course, Ryan Cavanagh. It seems like St. Ignatius always has an Irish kid on the team. Gotta love that. (Plus I think he is my friend Tim Cavanagh’s son so that’s even better.)

I got a chance to talk to Mount Carmel’s Phil Segroves about his Caravan. The loss of Angelo Ciaravino and Lee Marks leave big holes to fill. And by “big,” I mean points from Ciaravino and size from Marks. The Caravan looked like there were still figuring it out but Coach Segroves suggested the may be adding some more pieces. They will be top CCL team.

I saw the end of Loyola v. Bolingbrook. That was the only Loyola I saw. They beat Bolingbrook. I wish I could have seen more. They have to be in the CCL conversation until I have reason not to assume that Tom Livatino’s team will be there. They have been there every year. They are until they are not.

And then there is Benet—the third of the three best teams that I saw. Even with Sularski going back to Lemont, the Redwings look like they are even better. Blake Fagbemi looks even better than last year. Colin Stack looks more confident in the paint. Jaden Wright, Mac Doyle and Daniel Pauliukonis fill out the lineup. Heavy favorite in the ESCC. Possible No. 1 to open the season.

Finally, I got over to Wright Junior College to see Sean Conor’s Antioch Sequoits only to learn that a cousin of mine, Logan Lennon, a freshman, is one of the Sequoits. I know of only two descendants of my grandparents, Irish immigrants John Lydon and Delia Geraghty to play varsity high school basketball—my son Dan Lydon and Logan Lennon. So that is something a little special for me.

Well I guess that’s it for a while. We will be going back to football season now.

Here are some photos from the weekend.

Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout 2024

The Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout this past weekend was a good look at teams in advance this year’s upcoming tournament. I mostly cover the Chicago Catholic League and the Chicago Public League so I wanted to get a look at as many of those teams as I could. But I could only be there on Friday.

I got a look at DePaul Prep in games against Lake Zurich and DeLaSalle. The Rams have plugged in junior guard/wing Rykan Woo, a transfer from Whitney Young. The Rams return Makai Kvamme, AJ Chambers, Rob Walls and Rashawn Porter. They should pick up where they left off.

The Lane Tech Champions also looked like they picked up where they left off. Despite losing Shaheed Solebo to graduation, the Champions return Dalton Scantlebury, a top player in the 2025 class. The returning group of seniors, Braydon Rosenkrantz, Drew Bartoli, Mike Remotigue and Zach Mazanowski. Despite a close lose to Simeon in their first game, the Champions looked good.

The St. Ignatius Wolfpack looked very good against East St. Louis. Returning top player Phoenix Gill looked bigger, stronger and faster. A new group of starters, make this pack of wolves appear especially dangerous in the coming season.

I saw DeLaSalle against DePaul Prep. Meteors coach Gary DeCesare will have this talent group ready. They looked good but not good enough against the Rams.

I saw the first half of St. Laurence against Glenbard West. Jason Opeka had his Hilltoppers playing their 1-3-1 defense that was giving the talented group of Vikings, lead be returning EJ Mosley, some trouble. I didn’t get a good chance to see much of what Roshawn Russell and this Vikings will have in store for the league this winter. I asked one observer about St. Laurence. He said, “We’ll see.”

I also got a look at El Paso-Gridley. A newcomer to the R-B, the Comets look to show off their top performer Jonah Funk. The 6-9 forward didn’t dominate and played on the perimeter more that I expected. The 2-A Comets were overmatched in the game I some them play against DeKalb. It’s difficult to say how well the Comets will fair this season even with Funk. But I got a look at Funk, he will dominate the Comets conference opponents. I intend to get down to El Paso at least once this year to see Funk play, if he stays in El Paso.

I also got a look at Lou Adams’ Rich Township squad. I figured it was only a matter of time before Adams working Rich into a top team. That time appears to have arrived. Look for Rich to make a splash.

I got a look at Benet. The Redwings look special even without one of last year’s top contributor, Gabe Sularski. Sularski a couple court’s over after returning to his home town Lemont team. Sularski had a couple chippy exchanges with Whitney Young’s Antonio Munoz in their matchup.

Whitney Young is, well, Whitney Young. They will be very good as usual—maybe special. Antonio Munoz looks itching to get after a state title.

So those are my impressions of Friday. Here are a few photos from the day.

Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout

For me at least, R-B is the start of basketball season. I know there are AAU weekends and other “live” events, but the Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout is the best of all worlds. Top teams, top college coaches, top players, a look at new line-ups for top teams. It’s great to catch up with coaches, players, parents, reporters and even a few photographers.

I know football interrupts the season but R-B sparks the excitement, football sustains it and the Thanksgiving tournaments sets it free. So get ready for another sprint through the season.

We don’t have to wait long our beloved DePaul Prep Rams light it up at noon against the Lake Zurich Bears were 22-9 last season, finishing fourth behind Warren, Lake Forest and Stevenson in the North Suburban conference. I confess I didn’t know the first thing about Lake Zurich. I had no idea what the mascot was. I had to look it up. Twenty wins in a hard conference makes a tough team. It will be fun to see the new Rams line-up against at team I never considered before today.

The Benet against Bolingbrook—two top programs face off at 12:55. DePaul Prep again against Chicago Catholic League rival DeLaSalle Academy at 1:50.

Our El Paso Gridley Titans make an appearance for the first time (I assume) at R-B. The Titans, a 2-A school from Central Illinois about 30 miles north of Bloomington, travel up here presumably to showcase their top player Jonah Funk. Except Funk is reported to be moving to Metamora and will play there this season.

I think of El Paso mostly as a football school. My brother-in-law Mike Souhrada took the then El Paso Comets, before the combination with Gridley, to a state tittle football game 22 years ago. My nephew Jared Souhrada played on the basketball team a few years later.

After that we get a preview of Loyola, East St. Louis, Kenwood, Warren, Mount Carmel, St. Ignatius, Rich Township, Lane Tech, Simeon and St. Laurence.

It’s gonna be a busy afternoon and evening in Riverside-Brookfield. More fun than should be allowed in one evening.

Get there early. Parking is a . . . ..

Here are few photos from last year’s R-B.

The Day That Saved the World

Eighty years ago today, soldiers and sailors of the United States, Britain and Canada went ashore on the beaches of Normandy, France and saved the World.

Okay. There is a lot of overstatement there but there is more truth than not. The Battle of Normandy and its D-Day landings were the penultimate battle of the war that ushered in a prolonged era of relative peace.

Everyone should watch the second scene of Saving Private Ryan when Captain Miller’s (Tom Hanks) Ranger unit lands at Omaha Beach. That is what the soldiers faced for about four hours on Omaha. It’s hard to watch.

The men who landed, and lived, made their way up the bluff in scattered small groups silencing German machine guns, howitzers and mortars as Navy destroyers came right up the beach and knocked out the big guns. By midday, the tide was turning. By evening, the beach was in securely in American hands.

Elsewhere, the Americans on Utah were ashore and advancing inland. Same with the Canadians and British. It would be a while before the outcome of the battle was clearly evident, but it was never actually in doubt. Allied air supremacy pretty much assured victory but not the price of victory.

The day is a metaphor, a symbol for the whole endeavor of the war. The whole titanic struggle of good versus evil distilled into one day.

I could go on, and on, and on, and on about the things that happened that day and in the days after. My wife could certainly attest to that. She graciously agreed to sit through a day long symposium on D-Day with me and my sister in April. I reread three books and rewatched two movies just to get back up to speed.

My father was in the U.S. Army in World War II and served in SHAEF Headquarters as an officers’ pay clerk. I have studied World War II much of my life. I am sure that is because of his influence.

We owe so much to the bravery, foresight and determination of those men. We owe our lives and our prosperity to them.

I, for one, will be thinking of that today, June 6th, the 80th Anniversary of D-Day.

Robert Capa iconic image of D-Day

DePaul Prep Wins Sectional Championship with 2-1 Victory over St. Pat’s

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated the St. Patrick Shamrocks 2-1 in a well-played exciting game fitting of the stage. The student defeated the teacher in the IHSA 3A Clemente Sectional championship game.

When Sammy Colon was an 8th grader, Chris Haas went to his grade school and played catch with him eventually getting him into Gordon Tech. Sammy, a four-year starter for Chris at Gordon, came back to work at DePaul Prep as an assistant athletic director and an assistant varsity baseball coach. Chris moved on to become an athletic director himself and Sammy graduated into being the Rams’ baseball head coach.

Shamrocks’ junior right-hander Elias Alvarado had the Rams well in hand for the first four innings. No runs, one hit, no walks and three strike-outs. The defense behind him was solid.

Rams’ senior lefty James MacMillan was rolling too. Despite giving up three well hit singles in the top of the second, MacMillon rallied to set done the Shamrocks only giving up one run.

“We knew [Alvarado] was running out of gas a little [after four innings]. We started taking it one inning at a time. We put some balls in play and none of them were falling. We just needed to keep working on him, riding out at-bats and we would get an opportunity,” Colon said.

I wasn’t far from Sammy who was coaching third base. I could hear what he was saying to the bench. In the bottom of the fifth, he was fired up. He knew it was now or never to make a move, score a couple runs and win the game. He was all business.

To open the frame, the Rams got a huge lead off infield hit of the pitcher’s glove from senior Carter Levine. It was the ember the Rams needed to spark the inning. Levine, who to that point had the Rams only hit off Alvardo, legged out the hit. Colon had alerted Rams’ Owen Rog before the at-bat that if Carter got on, Rog would run for him.

Rog scrambled out to first base in place of Levine who had done his part. Rams’ third baseman junior Charlie Pribyl was at the plate.

“I didn’t put the bunt down initially but then I went to it. That put a lot of different things in peoples’ heads. I think Haas thought for sure we were bunting there to get the one run. It’s funny that Rog was at first base. Typically, he is our starting center fielder. We had a bit of an injury with the arm but the legs still worked so I was confident in stealing the bag there,” said Colon.

On a 2-0 count, after Pribyl showed bunt, Rog bolted for second; a good throw was late. Rog was in at second.

With two on and no outs, senior left fielder Aiden Ball ball squared around to bunt and worked a walk to load the based. Four innings in, Alvarado seemed a little gassed, struggling to find the plate. Rams hitters were in no hurry to swing at pitches outside the zone.

With the bases loaded and no one out, sophomore Joey Sachetti worked a walk on a three and two count to bring home Rog from third and tie the game.

“Big walk by Joey Sachetti in the nine spot who typically does not start for us, a sophomore that we called up from JV. That was a big at bat for us,” Colon said.

Back to the top of the line up, with one out, Rams senior infielder Benny Espinosa hit a fly ball to right field scoring Pribyl from third.

Rams up 2-1.

“Benny Espinosa doing what he does best. He has been our rock all year long. He stepped up big,” said Colon.

“Ya, [Alvarado] got a little gassed. He got a little rattled when he hit [Pribyl] on the bunt attempt. He throw a one hitter. They got the two runs he had no hits. It was just one of those things. I thought we hit the ball. We had six or seven hits.” But just one run.

James MacMillon’s performance was just as impressive as Alvarado’s. Six and a third innings giving up just the one run despite giving up five hits and three walks. Timely strike-outs and solid defense on balls put in play was the recipe for success.

Shut down closer Gavin Glibowski closed the door on the Shamrocks in the top of the seventh.  

Sammy Colon was emotional after the game.

“There wasn’t much conversation [with Chris Haas] before the game. It’s emotional for this game. He means a lot to me. As a coaching mentor, as a friend. He found me in the rough in the high school team at Gordon. He means a lot to me. It’s very emotional to play him. We didn’t talk a lot before the game. I had to keep my mind on beating him. But afterwards, we will go hang out. We will talk about this game forever. So, it’s fun,” Sammy said after the game.

Chris Haas took over baseball coaching from legendary Gordon Tech skipper Red Miller in 2003.

“I get emotional too. I love him. It was hard [to talk before the game]. I went up to him. Those kids, Luke Oblen, Griff Horne, Klein, Latko; those are still my guys. It’s bittersweet. I love those kids,” Chris Haas said after the game.  

“I love Sammy to death. He was a four-year starter for me in high school. I went to his grammar school everyday for a week at lunch. I played catch with him and talked about coming to Gordon. I love him. I wish him the best of luck.”  

Lane Wins City Championship 5-3 over Kenwood

It didn’t look good for Lane late in the City Championship game on Monday at Wrigley Field. Kenwood’s senior left-hander Kevari Thunderbird was rolling. He held the Champions scoreless giving up only two hits through five and a third.

Thunderbird hit his pitch count limit with one out in the sixth. It looked bleak for the Champions after Kenwood senior left-hander and center fielder Khamaree Thomas took over for Thunderbird promptly striking out two Champions to keep the shutout going.

But Lane’s head coach Sean Freeman, channeling his inner Jason Heyward, gathered his team during a long delay before the Champions came to bat in the top of the seventh. Not the rain from the Heavens like in Cleveland for the Cubs but an injured umpire stopped the game for an extended period. Freeman rallied his group for one last chance at the City Championship on the big stage.

“I mentioned the 49ers v. the Ravens when the lights went out and the Ravens ended up coming back. I said we are going to do that right here. It ended up being great.”

With one out, junior shortstop Ted Greco walked. Standout right freshman Sebastian Wilson crushed a double to right center advancing Greco to third. Senior Ethan Borggren singled to left scoring Greco.

Then it was Tyler Trapp’s turn. The junior second baseman struggled early in the game with two errors and a strikeout.

“It was a change-up just perfectly down the middle in my perfect spot and I just did everything I know,” said Trapp. He crushed it over the centerfielder’s head to score Wilson and Borggren. Just that quick, the game was tie. Tyler’s celebration at second base was reminiscent of the Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo in the tenth inning of the seventh game of the 2016 World Series.

Keeping it going, Champions’ outfielder Henry Owens walked on four pitches. Sophomore third baseman Ronan Owens crushed a long sacrifice fly to right field advancing Trapp to third.

Henry Owens stole second.  

With two out and men on first and second, catcher Elias Padilla singled scoring two runs to give the Champions a 5-3 lead with the Broncos still to bat.

Winning pitcher senior Oliver Evans stayed in for the bottom of the seventh. Strike out swinging for Kenwood’s Damaurion Butler. One out. Kenwood’s Jimmy Downs struck out swinging as well. Two down.

Kenwood’s clean-up hitter, senior first baseman Savion Flowers chopped a ground ball to first base. Ethan Borggren grabs it beating Flowers to the bag. Wrigley erupted in celebration. The Champions rushed out of the first base dugout onto the field. Hats and gloves flew into the air. Players ran into center field in celebration.

Foul ball.

After things settled down a bit. Sean Freeman walked out through the infield telling his team that the umpires had ruled the grounder a foul ball. The game would go on.

With Flowers back in the box and Evans back on the mound, Flowers hit a high fly ball to left. Champions’ senior Grant Leff gloved it. This time it was over. Champions won the Chicago Public League City Championship at Wrigley Field for the second time in three years. A second celebration ensued.

Of Kenwood pitcher Kevari Thunderbird, Freeman could not say enough. “He is a great pitcher. I tip my cap to him. He was the best player on the field today. I knew that once he hit the limit, if we could get him there, our odds would obviously go up a little bit,” said Freeman, not a man given to exaggeration.

The Lane players showed a maturity well beyond their years. Frankly, Thunderbird had them well under control for most of the game. Even when he got in a jam, as he did in the third and fourth, he got himself out of trouble with strikeouts.

“We were trying to work the counts as deep as we could. We knew that he would be pulled after 115 pitches,” Trapp said. Having committed two errors early in the game, Trapp stayed in the game mentally and physically.

“I just let the errors stay in the past. I can’t change the past. I just keep looking toward the future, toward my next opportunity,” Trapp said.

Next opportunity is the IHSA playoffs that start Wednesday.

[As for the photos, I worked up about three or four times as many as I usually do delaying the posting of them. I figured more is better under these unique circumstances. Not often—okay probably never again—will these players get photos of themselves playing at Wrigley Field.]

Lane Defeats Morgan Park 5-2 in CPL Playoffs

The Lane Tech Champions defeated the Morgan Park Mustangs 5-2 on Thursday afternoon at Kerry Wood Cubs Field. The Campions advance to face Whitney Young on Saturday at noon at UIC’s Les Miller Field at Curtis Granderson Stadium—isn’t that a mouthful.

Lane improved its record to 24-9, 14-0 in conference.

A spirited Morgan Park team made the trek north to face the Champions in the quarterfinal of the Chicago Public League baseball playoffs. The single elimination tournament will culminate in a championship game at Wrigley Field the coming Monday at 5:00 p.m. Admission is free. There is also free parking at the Cubs lot at Clark and Grace.

City Removes Rat Hole. Nooooo!

A preview of my story this week in Inside—Booster:

The Rat Hole: Before and After

The Chicago Department of Transportation removed the section of sidewalk in Roscoe Village on Wednesday with the animal impression frozen in the concrete—Chicago’s famous “Rat Hole.”

Early last Wednesday, CDOT workers removed and replaced sections of sidewalk and curb in the 1900 block of West Roscoe containing the Rat Hole. The animal impression in concrete has drawn nationwide attention in recent months. By mid-afternoon, a new sidewalk was poured. By early evening, the concrete had set and the forms were removed putting an end to the Rat Hole which some accounts said had been in place for twenty years.

CDOT’s Ambrosio Medrano, Jr., on the scene at the time of the removal said that the section of the sidewalk with the impression of the rodent was preserved and is in the possession of CDOT. Medrano said that the Rat Hole sidewalk would be given to the City’s Rodent Control Office in the Department of Streets and Sanitation. CDOT officials later would not confirm plans for the Rat Hole.

The animal impression gained notoriety in early January 2024 when a local artist posted his rat sculpture with the “rat hole.” Since then, it has blown up social media and news reports. A wedding is reported to have taken place at the Rat Hole. For a while in February, lines formed in the 1900 block of Roscoe to examine and leave tribute at the Rat Hole. It was regularly filled with coins like a European fountain, only smaller, and with a Chicago flair.

At least one purported expert who studied the Rat Hole believes that the impression is actually that of a squirrel that fell out of an adjacent large tree into wet cement when the sidewalk was first poured some twenty years ago. The impression is consistent with the anatomy of a squirrel rather than that of a rat was his hypothesis.

“This is definitely something we have not encountered before,” said Paul Sajovec, Alderman Waguespack’s chief of staff. Alderman Waguespack’s office has had lots and lots of complaints since January and February when people started visiting the 1900 block of Roscoe to check out the Rat Hole. Sajovec said, “the City’s 311 call center had received and forwarded numerous call to Alderman Waguespack’s office.

Alderman Waguespack contacted CDOT in late January or early February to “raise the issue” since this is a City infrastructure issue. Alderman Waguespack also discussed the Rat Hole directly with CDOT Commissioner Tom Karney.

“Some people were very vocal about immediately removing the sidewalk,” Sajovec said. The Alderman did not side with people who demanded that it be removed.

“It was CDOT’s decision to replace the sidewalk,” Sajovec said. It is not known when CDOT decided to remove sidewalk.

After reports of the Rat Hole removal, Alderman Waguespack’s office received mixed feedback from community members.

“Some people are pleased; some people are very upset [with removal of the Rat Hole]. The reactions are all over the board,” Sajovec said.  

This reporter’s tweet about the removal of the Rat Hole generated 462,000 view in two days on Twitter—also know as X.

CDOT had a slightly different take on removing the Rat Hole. “This sidewalk removal and replacement was in coordination with the Alderman's office and is funded through the 32nd Ward’s Aldermanic menu funds,” CDOT responded to Inside’s inquiry about how the removal came about.

“CDOT surveyed the sidewalk earlier this year and is replacing several other small sections of damaged sidewalk on Roscoe Street through CDOT's 311 hazardous sidewalk program,” wrote CDOT’s Erica Schroeder, the public information officer.

“[T]he square of concrete containing the "rat hole" is with CDOT's Division of In-House construction currently. Future plans are not confirmed, but I will certainly keep you posted once those are finalized.”

Stay tuned. We will have to see where the Rat Hole ends up.

SHAEF Veterans and Friends at Gettysburg

I went to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, for the annual meeting of the SHAEF Veterans and Friends Association. I am very jazzed because the weekend includes participation in the the Dwight D. Eisenhower Society and the Eisenhower Institute D-Day 80th Anniversary symposium at Gettysburg College.

 SHAEF stands for Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces. It was my father’s unit in the U. S. Army during WWII. My father passed away many years ago but my sister Pat and I are members of the association and go the the annual meetings.

Over the past few weeks I have been rereading, listening to actually, several books I have on D-Day in anticipation of the SHAEF meeting. Craig Symonds, “Operation Neptune. The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landing,” (2014), Steven Ambrose, “D-Day,” (2002), and Cornelius Ryan, “The Longest Day,” (1959).  It has been some time since I read these books for the first time. It was useful to revisit them. They confirmed and refuted many things I thought I know about that momentous day.

Like so many historic events, there were many reasons why the invasion succeeded. I get the feeling from these books that it would have succeeded almost no matter what because of dopey things Hitler and the other Nazis did.

What I didn’t quite know was how the Americans stranded at the sea wall on Omaha Beach got off the beach. The destroyers came in close to the beach blasted installations on the bluff and in the draws.

The surviving men that landed made their way up the bluff and suppressed enough of the enemy for the survivors and successive waves to control the beach.

The other big controversy seems to be the opposing strategies of the German defense. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel wanted to defeat the invasion at the beaches. Field Marshal Gerd Von Rundstedt wanted to let the invaders land, then he would counter-attack with armored divisions outside the reach of naval guns. Would that have worked? Probably not. A million airplanes would have swarmed over the moving German units the same way they did in the Battle of Normandy. Without some air power, any air power, I don’t see how the Germans would have defeated division after division of American, British and Canadian troops that came ashore and would continue to come ashore for the next ten months.

The Germans might have done better under Von Rundstedt’s plan but that would have just meant that the Russians would have been defeated the Germans before the Americans got into Germany.

Yesterday we went to the Gettysburg National Military Museum and Visitors Center. Very interesting. Carol and I road around the area getting a feel for the topography and the distance between the matter engagements in the three day battle in July 1863. The Civil War is such a big subject I have not gotten very deep into it. Still being here and seeing the town with its 19th Century feel has been very interesting.

Today was the D-Day + 80+ Symposium at Gettysburg College. It was everything I expected and more. Susan Eisenhower, Doug Dowds, Craig Symonds and David Eisenhower were great speakers.

I really enjoyed Craig Symonds central thesis that the Destroyers saved the day on Omaha beach. I did not appreciate that until I reread the D-Day books in recent months. My wife Carol, my sister Pat and two of Pat’s friends also went to the Symposium. The seemed to enjoy it as well even though they are not quite the WWII nerds that I am.

That’s it. Battle of the Bulge, Battle of Midway, War in the Pacific and D-Day taken care of now. I’m gonna have to find a new WWII subject to take up now.

Lane v. Whitney Young

I went over to Kerry Wood Field Friday evening to catch the Lane v. Whitney Young baseball game. According to Max Preps, the Champions came into the game with an 8-0 record. Lane Head coach Sean Freeman corrected me when I asked about the spotless record saying that they dropped a couple split squad games to out-of-state teams on their Spring Break trip.

The Dolphins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Champions’ senior right handed pitcher Jack Davis gave up three singles, a walk and two runs with two out but settled down pitching five full innings allowing only one earned run with eleven strike outs and two walks.

I couldn’t stay for the whole game so it’s not going to get the full treatment and a story in the Booster. There will be time for that.

Sean Freeman’s Champions have three division one commits: senior first baseman Ethan Borggren (Northwestern), senior center fielder Henry Murray (Boston College) and freshman right fielder Sebastian Wilson. The talent is there for the Champions to have a great season.

It turns out that the Champions fell to Kenwood 6-4 on Saturday in what might be a telling look at the top teams in the Chicago Public League.

With the weather warming up and league play starting, I will be getting out to as many CPL and CCL games as I can.

The photos are not my best. It was coooold and I didn’t give it the full treatment. I am still getting back in the swing of taking baseball photos.

Reflections on the Feast of St. Patrick

My father was the Co-ordinator of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade from 1956 to 1991. St. Patrick’s Day has always been a special day for me and my family. My dad had a great deal to do with making Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Day what it is these days. Particularly, the dying of the Chicago River. In recent years, I have not made a big deal of it. Frankly, it is somewhat painful. I miss my dad, Daniel P. Lydon.

I am beginning to appreciate what St. Patrick’s Day has become. It is now largely a secular celebration of Irishness and Ireland. The entire Republic of Ireland has about 5.5 million people. That is about the same number of people in Cook County. Yet, Ireland and the Irish occupy such a large place in American popular culture. Ireland, it patron saint and its people enjoy their own American holiday. Perhaps not exactly a feast day of a Roman Catholic saint intended to celebrate the evangelization of the Emerald Isle to Christianity in the Fifth Century. But I, and I think, the rest of Irish America, don’t mind too much.

I enjoy, and take considerable pride in, the outsized influence the Celtic island on the edge of Europe has had in history and particularly the history of the United States and Chicago in particular.

I take pride, in the good sense, not pride in the sinful sense, in my Irish heritage and Irishness of America. The Irish—Irish Americans—have made Chicago the place it is. A good place. A friendly and productive place that has contributed to America and her people. I hope that we have brought the Irish skills and traits of good humor, hard work, faith, wit, charm, good looks and devotion to the American persona—especially the good looks part.

Enjoy the holiday. Don’t forget about St. Patrick. He taught the Irish to love. He made us who we are, like so many before and after him.

Rams Win 3A State Championship

[Preview of my Inside—Booster article.]

By Jack Lydon

Defense and free throws win games and state championships. The DePaul Prep Rams (35-2) defeated the Mount Carmel Caravan (32-6) to win IHSA 3A state championship. It’s DePaul’s second straight state championship who are believed to be the first time to win consecutive championship is two different classes, 2A and 3A.

The DePaul Prep’s second straight state championship is just the another in a string of successes in recent years: a 2A state championship last year, third-place finish in 2A in 2022, #1 ranking with wins over Fenwick and Evanston to win the Chipotle tournament in the COVID year and a third-place finish in 3A in 2019. The Rams are the winningest team in playoff finishes in the last five years.

The Rams and Caravan know each other well. They battled in February for the championship of the Chicago Catholic League, widely regarding as the top conference in the state this year. The first meeting had the feel of a heavy weight prize fight, or at least a Catholic League football game. The Rams prevailed 41-38 but the Caravan’s Lee Marks was out having broken his elbow in the game against Leo a week before. Marks adds so much to Mount Carmel as he proved in the semi-final against Mt. Zion.

No matter. The Rams opened the game in their usual fashion. DePaul Prep’s junior point guard Makai Kvamme, leading scorer for the Rams with 18 points, opened the scoring with a three pointer and then a layup off a turnover. The Rams added ten more and lead 15-7 at the end of the first quarter.

It’s best not to get behind DePaul Prep. Few teams are better at handling the ball and controlling the tempo. Maybe so but the Caravan has senior forward and Northwestern commit Angelo Ciaravino (24 points) is no ordinary player. Led by Ciaravino, the Caravan charged back in the third quarter.

The refs called the game much tighter than the refs did in the first matchup between the teams. Shortly into the third, DePaul Prep was called for three fouls in the space of four seconds off the game clock.

DePaul head coach Tom Kleinschmidt agreed the refs were calling the game tighter than he expected in a championship.

“I kind of lost my composure a little [with the refs]. That was my fault,” Kleinschmidt said.  

The Caravan cut the Rams lead to six points at the end of the third quarter and ramped up the defensive pressure in the fourth frame.

Championship experience and hours of free throw practice paid dividends for the Rams. Senior and All Area guard PJ Chambers was calm as could be. With the score 37-34, Chambers stepped up the line and dropped two free throws with a 1:44 to go. And then two more at 1:20. And then two more at 1:05.

It was Makai Kvamme’s turn at the line 50 seconds left. Two more free throws made. A layup by sophomore guard Rob Walls added two more points. Two more free throws at the end for Kvamme made it a 49-41 final. And a state championship, again.

“I don’t even have words. I am very excited. It’s amazing. It’s a pleasure to be part of this DePaul Prep program and to win so much,” said Rams’ point guard Makai Kvamme.

As to the free throws, Kvamme said, “I don’t think about it anymore. I am pretty confident. After the Normal game [where he missed two free throws with no time on the clock that could have sone it for the Rams], we worked on them every day because I missed those two free throws. I was upset obviously after the game. I just kept working,” Kvamme said.

Mount Carmel head coach Phil Segroves downplayed the tight calls. “I don’t know what the foul totals were. We did come out a little bit more aggressive [in the second half]. We knew that we had to play a little bit more up tempo. We were able to force some turnovers and get some quick buckets. That is where you saw the twelve-point lead cut to three,” Segroves said.

“We had the right scout on the wrong night. We had a great scout for DePaul Prep based on what we had seen and us playing them earlier in the year. Their guys did some stuff that we were not expecting. Their guys hit some big shots early. All the credit to Coach Kleinschmidt and DePaul Prep.”

It was a phenomenal season for the Rams. They won the Chicago Catholic League. It was the winningest season in school history, 35-2. Their only two losses were to the two teams that played for the 4A state championship Homewood-Flossmoor and Normal Community. They did it without starter junior guard Rob Walls for much of the season and junior forward and anticipated starter Jonas Johnson for most of the season.

They did it starting two seniors, two juniors and a sophomore. The sixth man was also a sophomore. They did without a lot of fanfare. They did it in a workmanlike fashion. They enjoyed themselves. And so did we.

Quick Trip to the Emerald Isle

As some may have deduced from careful examination of my Instagram posts, I went to Ireland the week before last. Just a quick trip to reset before the basketball playoffs got serious. I basically took the regionals off after the regular season. I figured I wouldn’t miss much this year which proved to be true. It was also a good time to take advantage of cheap airfares and off-season crowds.

We stayed a day in Dublin were we had a visit with my cousin Barbara and her friend Sen. Marie Sherlock. Barbara and Marie attended Trinity together some years ago. They were part of a group of Trinity students that lived in Chicago for the summer so we got to know Marie and the rest of their group pretty well.

Marie showed us around Lienster House, which is home of the Oireachtas Éireann, the legislature for the Republic of Ireland. We had a drink, a couple actually, in the “Dail Bar.” A actually pub inside the capital building just steps from the Dail chamber. Nice.

Then we went to Galway and set in different pubs. Didn’t did much else. Just had some pints and did nothing. It was glorious. I highly recommend it.

Here are some photos I took.

DePaul Prep Beats Richwoods 52-41 and Will Face Mount Carmel in State Championship

By Jack Lydon

The DePaul Prep Rams just keep winning. They defeated the red-hot Richwoods Knights 52-41 on Friday afternoon in the IHSA 3A semi-final in Champaign. They have not lost since the When Sides Collide shootout on January 20th.

DePaul Prep (34-2) advances to face the Mount Carmel Caravan in the 3A state championship game. For the second year in a row, the Rams will play in a state championship game. This time in 3A having moved up from 2A. It will be a rematch of the February 12th heavy weight prize fight for the Chicago Catholic League championship which the Rams won 41-38.

But let's not skip right past tonight's historic win. Richwoods' last three games were wins against Kankakee (27-5), Metamora (30-5) and Thornton (29-5) with a collective record of 86-15. The Knights are ranked first in the state by MaxPreps.com.

Oh, and Richwoods has Lathan Summerville who just might be the best player in the state. A giant 6-10 senior center, committed to Rutgers, that dominates the paint, can run the floor and shoot three-pointers.

Once again it was stellar defense and this time plenty of offense that drove the Rams to victory.  One cannot overstate the performance of the Rams’ defense and particularly, the work of sophomore forward Rashaun Porter. A truly remarkable effort by Porter against a top player on the biggest stage. The Rams held Summerville to 3 rebounds.

“I was prepared for it. Working on it everyday. It was hard at the start. But once you get into the game and then it’s just easy on defense,” Porter said of defending Summerville.

It was a total team defensive effort. Senior forward Jaylan McElroy and Porter bracketed Summerville. Rob Walls, PJ Chambers and Makai Kvamme turned off the outside shooting of Richwoods.

“[Summerville] is a very good player overall. He is really big,” said McElroy. “Our game plan was to surround him when he put the ball on the floor. We executed pretty well.”

“We wanted [Summerville] running into Shaun or running into Jaylan. So if we sandwiched him with two bigs and they skipped, you had Jaylan [McElroy] fronting with Shaun [Porter] on the backside. If they skipped the other way, you had Shaun on the front and Jaylan on the backside. So he was always running into size,” said DePaul Prep head coach and former DePaul University star Tom Kleinschmidt. 

The Rams were up to taking away Summerville. He finished with 18 points but only three rebounds. It was the defense against the rest of the team that cemented the victory. The only other Richwoods player in double figures was DaQuan Little with ten points.

“We stayed home on [Little]. He is shooting 44% from three. He shoots the hell out of the ball so we tried to stay home on him. [Tavie Smith] can make a shot. [Marion Herron] can make a shot. When you play a player like Summerville, you have to give something up. That’s what we were willing to give up.” They gave very little.

The defense was only half, and maybe not the most important half, of tonight’s performance by the Rams.

The Rams' offensive engine of Makai Kvamme (15 points), PJ Chambers (15 points) and Rob Walls (7 points) outscored the Knights in every quarter. Jaylan McElroy added four points and five rebounds.

Kavamme had some impressive buckets high off the glass and over Summerville. “I work on those shots a lot. I train with my dad. I know [Summerville] would be big. I knew I had to get it high on the glass in order to get a bucket,” said Rams junior guard Makai Kvamme.

The Rams outscored Richwoods in each of the quarters. The Knights rallied late in the third quarter and cut the Rams’ lead to two points at 28-26 but that was as close as they would get. Jaylan McElroy’s four points on two put-back buckets lifted the Rams.

The fourth quarter would feature Makai Kvamme with free throws, PJ Chambers with a steals and layups and Rob Walls with a layup and free throw. AJ Chambers added a free throw at the end for good measure.

DePaul Prep is taking its place as a premiere high school on the Northside, particularly when it comes to basketball. A state championship, a number one ranking in the COVID year with no playoffs, and two state third place finishes in the last six tries.

The move to 3A hasn’t been much a hurtle for the Rams. “A lot of guys talk about 2A. 2A is great. We don’t play a 2A schedule. The only time we play 2A teams is in our conference. There is probably three or four coaches down there that say we play in the best conference. This year we feel we do. We have been 3A before. This is our second time down here in 3A. We were 3A in 2019. Bogan beat us up,” said Kleinschmidt.

The Rams move on to face the Mount Carmel Caravan in the 3A State Championship game. Mount Carmel defeated Mt. Zion from far Southern Illinois 65-49. The Caravan saw the return of senior forward Lee Marks who has been out with a fractured elbow since February 6th.

“Marks is a difference maker. He is good. They are good. We know those guys. We know the coaches. We know what they are going to do and they know what we are going to do. It’s going to be fun. I am glad we are playing a Catholic League team,” said Kleinschmidt.

Rams senior PJ Chambers received both All City and All Area first team honors. “I am blessed. I was very surprised. I am very thankful to be awarded these type of accolades,” said senior guard/forward PJ Chambers. “Whoever we play tomorrow, we are going to battle it out and hopefully we win.”

“We play a lot of good teams on our schedule. We will face the adversity and overcome it.”

Back to the State Finals for DePaul Prep with 51-31 Win over Crystal Lake South

By Jack Lydon

The DePaul Prep Rams’ third quarter adjustments to the Crystal Lake South Gators high pressure 1-3-1 defense opened a lead for the Rams and propelled them to Champaign, again. They booked their 33rd win against two losses with the 51-31 win over the Crystal Lake Gators (31-5) in the IHSA 3A Super-sectional playoff at the Now Arena in Hoffman Estates Monday evening and a berth in this weekend’s IHSA State basketball championship tournament.

The Rams will need another great plan and the same flexibility when they on Peoria Richwoods in Friday’s IHSA 3A state semi-final.

Rams senior guard/forward PJ Chambers lead the Rams with 18 points but, as usual, it was the Rams’ defense and third quarter offensive adjustments that lifted DePaul Prep, the way actual rams might navigate through a pack of gators.

“[Crystal Lake’s] defense is a nightmare. We struggled in the first half. You saw it. They got a million deflections. They have length. They are good at it. They do [the 1-3-1] a little differently where they it push up. Once you get across half court, they are coming for you,” said Rams’ head coach and former Gordon Tech and DePaul University star Tom Kleinschmidt.

“Their length really bothered us. We took too many jumpers in the first half. We needed to drive the ball and get some gaps. They made it tough on us.”

Gator’s junior point guard AJ Demirov clearly was the stray that was also the drink for the Gators.

“We wanted to make sure that [Demirov] saw a player and a half. We tried to keep him away from the basket as best we could,” Kleinschidt said.

The Gators’ offence consisted of Demirov, 10 points, and small contributions each of the rest of the starting lineup. The problem was that Demirov was taking the bulk of the shots for Crystal Lake South and had only four field goals (of which only one was a three) and one free throw.  

“We wanted to meet him at the elbow or the [free throw line] so he couldn’t get into the paint and had to take tougher shots. We didn’t do a great job in the first half but okay. In the second half, we did a much better job of showing him a man and a half or two men,” Kleinschmidt continued.

The first half was pretty even except for the end. With the clock ticking down to the half, Demirov drove the lane for an underhanded layup and the foul with 3.2 to play. He added the free throw to bring the Gators within seven.

Not to be outdone, Rams’ clutch, silky smooth junior point guard Makai Kvamme took the inbound pass down the length of the court and banked in a three off the glass.

“What a momentum builder to walk into the locker room,” Kleinshmidt said of Kvamme’s buzzer beater.

“It looked good but I was like, ‘this ain’t gonna happen.’ It caught glass and went in—a huge momentum builder going up ten into the locker room with the ball coming out in the third.”

In the second half, “we put three guards in a triangle. We wanted to reverse a couple times. The more times the ball goes side-to-side the gaps will get open. We got it to the middle to [PJ Chambers] or his brother [sophomore guard AJ Chambers] and we either got straight line drives or dump offs. Shaun had two dunks with dump offs,” Kleinschmidt said.

“You can watch all the film you want. Until you take the court and see it, the physicality, the athleticism, how they rally to the ball. It’s tough to prepare for,” said Crystal Lake head coach Matt LaPage said of DePaul Prep’s defense.

“In the third quarter, they came at us not only offensively but defensively—just stifling. It’s a special defense. It’s as good as advertised. That’s for sure.”

Of the defensive effort, DePaul Prep’s PJ Chambers said, “What we did really well was contain [Demirov]. That was the game plan. If we could take him out of the equation, it was very possible for us to win,” said PJ Chambers.

“We’ve got our defensive stoppers. We’ve got Jay, Rob, Makai, AJ, even me at times. All of us play our roles really well. It came down to guarding #4 [Demirov], especially Rob, Kai and Jay at times, they excelled greatly.”

If Demirov was the main ingredient in the drink for Crystal Lake South, Chambers was DePaul’s secret sauce on offense for DePaul Prep. Eighteen points including an early three that got him going.

“Right. That’s how I play. If I am hot early in the game, then I keep shooting. If it starts to die down, I know I have to switch my game up,” Chambers said.

It wasn’t all Chambers by any means. It was a total team victory. Senior center Jaylan McElroy finished with nine points including two steals with layups finishes late in the game. Junior guard Rob Walls had nine points and eight rebounds. Kvamme had eight points with the big three to close the first half. Sophomore forward Rashaun Porter had five. Sophomore AJ Chambers added a field goal.

Of his historic defense, Kleinschmidt offered this: “Our strength is our defense and it’s because we can switch 1 to 5. They can all guard somebody for a little while. Even our guards can front the post long enough so help can get there on the back side. And our bigs can move their feet well enough until the help comes. That is the strength of our team that we can switch one through five and everybody can guard.”

More than just the switching, the Rams had a plan for Demirov and his sharp-shooting mates.

“We know they’ve got shooters all over. We didn’t want to leave corners [in order to cover Demirov]. They are a great shooting team. So we wanted to help with the big instead of the guards in the corner. If I help off the corner, [Demirov] is going to drive [and] kick. We took away one of his options. We wanted to see them make tough twos instead of threes,” said Kleinschmidt.

This has been an historic season for the DePaul Prep Rams. 33-2 is most wins in school history. The Rams only losses this year are to two teams, Homewood-Flossmoor and Normal Community, who are both still alive in the 4A final four.

The Rams have put together quite a string of successes in recent years: a 2A state championship last year, third-place finish in 2A in 2022, #1 ranking with wins over Fenwick and Evanston to win the Chipotle tournament in the COVID year with no playoffs and a third place finish in 3A in 2019.

Crystal Lake South had themselves an historic year as well. The Gators were ranked at points this season. They entered the Sun-Times Super 25 on January 21, 2024, at 25th spot. 25th on January 28, 2024. February 4, 2024, at 24. They fell out on February 11th. Prior to this year, the Gators had not won a sectional in 41 years. Coach Matt LaPage is 172-138 in 11 years as head coach.

The Rams move on to play Richwoods from Peoria on Friday morning in the IHSA 3A semi-final in Champaign. Richwoods (29-4) is coming off an impressive 58-52 victory over third ranked Thornton on Monday.

Richwoods is for real. Of Richwoods’ senior center Latham Summerville, basketball analyst Scott Burgess wrote, “No doubt about it Lathan Sommerville was the best player on the floor in [the Thornton] game. He was dominant from the very beginning of the contest. Big and physically imposing post dropped 32 points and double-digit boards. He took out the #1 and #2 ranked players in his class in back-to-back games along with the defending state champs [Moline] to lead his team to Champaign.”

It only gets tougher for the Rams.

[Blogger’s note: My thanks to my friend James Janega, a former Tribune reporter, for looking at this piece and offering some suggestions. I have landed some blows in my fight with the English language but I will need many more sparing sessions to get where I need to be.]

DePaul Prep Defeats Lake Forest 38-21; Wins St. Viator 3A Sectional

#4 ranked DePaul Prep Rams (32-2) defeated the Lake Forest Scouts (25-8) 38-21 to win IHSA 3A Sectional at St. Viator Friday evening. It was a matchup of the #1 seed against the #2 seed. The Scouts were ranked a couple times this year last appearing at #20 on February 4, 2023, in the Sun-Times Super 25.

“I think by far [DePaul Prep is] the best coached defensive team that I have ever seen in high school basketball,” said Lake Forest head coach Phil LaScala. It was that defensive pressure in third quarter that turned the tide for the Rams.

Both teams knew what they wanted to do—play defense. That they did. The first half ended 11-11. If anything was proved in the first half, it was that the Scouts know how to pass the ball. Taking shots for the sake of taking shots is not a thing for them. Let’s call their shot selection—selective. One might even say deliberate.

The usual offensive formula for the Rams was not working either. Senior All City and All Area forward/guard PJ Chambers was scoreless in the first half. So was senior forward and third team All City forward Jaylan McElroy. Junior guard Makai Kvamme lead the Rams in the first half with four of the Rams’ 11 points including a clutch layup at the close of the half to draw the Rams even. Junior guard Rob Walls dropped a three in the first quarter. Sophomore AJ Chambers added a field goal late in the second quarter.   

“We knew they would go 1-3-1 [defense]. I didn’t think they would start in it. We thought he would go man and then go 1-3-1. He started in it and that through us off. When he got out of it and we got downhill and their size was waiting on us. It bothered us,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

The half court pressure by the Rams coming out of the half was the difference. “We picked up pressure. We did not sit back. We picked them up a half court. We tagged them all over and we trapped some things,” Kleinschmidt added.

“We had to change the pace of the game. If we would have gone on like that they would have beat us or it would have been a one possession game so we had to use our athleticism.

Rams junior guard Rob Walls got a steal and a layup to open the third quarter. Then Jaylan McElroy with steal and a dunk to open a what felt like a gigantic four-point lead. Four steals by the Ram on the first six Scouts’ possessions turned the tide. The Rams opened a 27-15 lead at the end of the third. With so few points being scored it felt like a huge lead.

“The sped us up a little bit. Our turnovers killed us and they got some easy baskets off the turnovers. That’s a big part of their game. They are the best defensive team that I have seen in the state. I watched a lot of film on them. I have watched them play a lot,” LaScala said.

It wasn’t all Rams. Lake Forest’s junior forward Hudson Scroggins was impressive with seven of the Scouts eleven points in the first half. But there simple weren’t very many points to be had for the Scouts.

With his team scoring so few points, LaScala had to do something. At the start of the fourth quarter the Scouts started fouling.

“I think they were trying to get in the bonus and make us shoot free throws,” Kleinschmidt said. “He was going to speed us up with traps and hopefully get turnovers. And he got them. But we came back down and got stops.

It wouldn’t be enough. The Rams can hold the ball. The Rams can make free throws. It ended 38-21 Rams.

After that game, Rams junior guard Rob Walls said, “[g]oin into [the third quarter] I knew we were going to need something, a spark for the team. The steals and layups brought us back into the game.”

Walls was indeed the spark the Rams needed with the size of Lake Forest neutralizing the play of McElroy and sophomore forward Rashawn Porter on the boards and the smothering coverage of high scoring PJ Chambers.

Walls was out with an injury much of the middle part of the season. “I feel dedicated to just keep working. Everyday in practice I keep working my best to get back in shape. Just running with these guys. Running with PJ and AJ; it’s helped me. It’s helped me big time,” said Walls.

The Rams move on to play Kaneland sectional winner Crystal Lake South (31-3) in the 3A Super-sectional game Monday at the NOW Area in Hoffman Estates.