Three-ing is Believing: Loyola Academy three-peats as IHSA 8A champion

For the third year in a row, Loyola Academy is the IHSA Class 8A football champion.

Ryan Fitzpatrick passed for three touchdowns and fellow senior co-captain Drew MacPherson scored twice on runs and once on a reception as the Ramblers extended their reign and earned the sixth state title in program history by defeating York 35-10 on Saturday night, Nov. 30, at Hancock Stadium on the campus of Illinois State University.

It was a triumphant return to the same stadium where the Ramblers were routed 34-7 by East St. Louis in their season opener. After starting their season with two losses in three games it didn’t seem they had the right stuff to threepeat.

But coach Beau Desherow’s team then made a dramatic turnaround and won 11 straight games to finish with a 12-2 record. The championship was the second for Desherow, who became the head coach after John Holecek’s team won its third title during his 17 years as head coach. After taking last year off, Holecek returned this year as one of his friend Desherow’s assistants.

Three of Loyola’s regular season opponents also were state champions. Mount Carmel (11-3) took the Class 7A title for the third straight year by overwhelming Batavia 55-34; East St. Louis (13-1) captured the Class 6A crown by conquering Geneva 48-28; and DePaul Prep (11-3) won the Class 4A championship by trouncing Mt. Zion 40-6.

It is the first three-peat in the history of Ramblers football, which now has six state championships, including five since 2015.

Loyola Academy was one of seven private schools to win state championships on the weekend and the third to achieve a three-peat — Mount Carmel and Nazareth Academy (5A) are the others

To show their solidarity with and support for their Chicago Catholic League arch-rivals, the Mount Carmel players lined up on both sides of the pathway leading to the field when the Ramblers left their dressing room.

It was York (11-3), however, that seized the initiative. The Bulldogs forced Loyola to punt on the first possession of the game and then opened the scoring on their second play from scrimmage when Jimmy Conners ran 74 yards around right end.

“Sitting on that sideline and seeing us down 7-0 was a wakeup call,” Fitzgerald said. “We had to come out and score right away.”

Mission accomplished: Loyola drove 55 yards in six plays for a touchdown that came on an 18-yard Fitzgerald-to-senior-Will Carlson pass play, and Zak Zeman kicked the first of his five extra points to tie the score.

In the second quarter the Ramblers took the lead on MacPherson’s 12-yard run but the Bulldogs immediately answered with an 80-yard drive that saw star quarterback Bruno Massel score on a 4-yard run after he set up the touchdown with runs of 56 and 10 yards and a 10-yard pass completion.

Fitzgerald and MacPherson immediately took action, enabling Loyola to take permanent possession of the lead by going ahead 21-14 with 2:58 to play in the first half. The 80-yard drive ended when Fitzgerald tossed a short pass to MacPherson, who took it to the end zone on a 16-yard play. Setting up the TD were runs of 16, 23 and 4 yards by MacPherson and 8 and 4 yards by Fitzgerald.

“It was a little unexpected at first but everyone had to turn up their intensity and do our jobs,” said senior linebacker Max Mendoza, one of the Ramblers’ standouts on defense. “Once we got going we finished the job.”

While the defense was shutting out the Bulldogs in the second half, the offense was taking control.

“The offensive line did a fantastic job; there were a lot of great blocks in front of me,” MacPherson said. “Our offensive line is one of the best in the state led by (senior center) Joey Herbert, who’s also a great co-captain. I’m proud I was able to produce for them.”

In the third quarter the Ramblers padded their lead when Gavin Vradenburg out-dueled a defender in the right corner of the end zone to catch a 6-yard pass from Fitzgerald.

“We had a little bit of miscommunication and it was not a great route but it ended up being a decent route. Ryan threw it up and let me make the play,” said Vradenburg, who was the game’s top receiver with five catches for 74 yards.

The final touchdown came early in the fourth quarter on a 61-yard drive climaxed by MacPherson’s 3-yard carry for his 22nd TD of the season.

“We made some adjustments in the second half,” Desherow said. “We knew going in that they had rushed for more than 3,000 yards as a team and that they had a very talented and very fast quarterback.

“The leadership the seniors had all year set us up for this moment. They kept their faith and their trust in the process and they played for each other. We accomplished our goal.”

Although it was a bitter cold night — with a temperature of 22 degrees (and a lower wind-chill) at kickoff — neither team had a fumble nor an interception and there were some outstanding catches.

The Class 8A All-State running back MacPherson netted 150 yards in 19 carries and caught 4 passes for 41 yards, while Fitzgerald completed 12 of 21 passes for 160 yards and added 47 yards in 7 carries.

“They’re both very dynamic players, they’re both great leaders and most important they’re great teammates and great young men,” Desherow said.

“This was our goal in the offseason,” Fitzgerald said. “Coming into this game we knew we controlled our destiny.

“Going 14-0 last year was fun. This year starting 1-2 we had to shift our focus each game. We knew it was going to be an uphill battle. Being a senior, a co-captain and a quarterback it’s a great feeling to accomplish our goal.”

Senior linebacker Charlie Daly led the defense with six solo tackles and six assisted tackles. Significant contributions also came from senior defensive back Charlie Prior (2 solo and 4 assisted tackles), Mendoza (1 unassisted and 4 assisted), senior defensive back Michael Dooley (4 unassisted), senior defensive lineman Tommy Ghislandi (1 unassisted and 3 assisted) and junior defensive lineman Kai Calcutt (4 assisted).

Another who made a major impact was Zeman. In addition to kicking the five extra points, the junior was constantly putting York in bad field position by averaging 64.2 yards on six kickoffs and 43.3 yards on three punts.

MacPherson also emphasized the role played by Desherow and his assistants.

“We have one of the best coaching staffs in the country — if not the best,” he said.

For the past two years, former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald (Ryan’s father) has been a volunteer assistant, working with the defense. In addition to former head coach Holecek coming back this year as an assistant, joining the staff was Charlie Bliss, a longtime assistant at Maine South who is a member of the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

These high profile assistants are collaborating with Tyler Vradenburg (Gavin’s father), Eric Bielinski, Pete Devine, Peter DiStaulo, Mike Dooley, Ryan Gallagher, Mike Herbert, Matt Kotowski, Jeff Lindeman, Pat Naughton and Michael Scott — most of whom were assistants during Holecek’s distinguished head coaching career.

“Loyola has such a great history, such a great legacy and it comes down to the coaching staff,” concluded MacPherson.

York coach Don Gelsomino was gracious in defeat and he praised his players.

“It was a fun ride,” he said of the season. “When these kids (the seniors) were freshmen we were in a 10-year playoff drought. Now, we’ve made the semi-finals for the last three years. They’ve set the standard for York football.”

Playing his last high school game, Massel stood out for the Dukes with 141 rushing yards in 17 carries and 81 yards of 6-for-18 passing.

“We had opportunities to make plays but I saw missed reads and missed throws,” said the quarterback. “You can’t do that against a team like Loyola.”

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