Loyola Academy three-peats as 8A state champ

(Editor’s Note: This is a brief recap of the IHSA 8A championship game. Stay tuned to TheRecordNorthShore.org for a full report including quotes, statistics and more insight.)

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

The Ramblers extended their reign by defeating York 35-14 on Saturday, Nov. 30, at Hancock Stadium on the campus of Illinois State University.

“As an alum, for our entire Loyola Academy, the success that we’ve had, it means the world,” said Beau Desherow, Loyola’s head coach to WCIU immediately following the triumph.

The Ramblers’ victory was the same site that they lost their regular-season opener to East St. Louis. After starting the season with two losses in three games, it didn’t seem that the Ramblers had the right stuff to three-peat. But coach Beau Desherow’s team then won 11 straight to finish 12-2.

It was the second state title for Desherow who became Loyola’s head coach after John Holecek’s team won the championship in 2022. After taking last year off, Holecek returned this season as an assistant coach, giving Loyola perhaps the finest staff in Illinois history.

Earlier in the day, East St. Louis won the Class 6A championship by routing Geneva, 48-28, and Mount Carmel beat Batavia, 55-34, and the previous day, Friday, Nov. 29, DePaul Prep took the Class 4A title by drubbing Mt. Zion, 40-6. All of these state champions played against Loyola during the regular season.

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.

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

Scoring

The first half was a seesaw struggle that ended ith Loyola leading 21-14. 

York opened the scoring with 8:19 to play in the first quarter when Jimmy Conners went on a 74-yard touchdown run around right end. 

Loyola immediately counterattacked and drove 65 yards for a touchdown that came on Ryan Fitzgerald’s 18-yard pass to Will Carlson. 

The Ramblers took the lead on Drew MacPherson’s 12-yard run with 8:40 remaining in the second quarter, but York immediately answered with an 80-yard touchdown drive climaxed by quarterback Bruno Massel’s 4-yard run. 

The Ramblers then drove 71 yards to regain the lead with MacPherson scoring on a 16-yard reception from Fitzgerald.

Picking up where they left off in the first half, the Ramblers extended their lead to two touchdowns by scoring with 7:02 to play in the third quarter on an 8-yard pass from Fitzgerald to Gavin Vradenburg.

In the fourth quarter, Loyola padded its lead when the Class 8A All-State running back MacPherson ran 3 yards for a touchdown.

Zak Zeman kicked all five extra points.

The Record is a nonprofit, nonpartisan community newsroom that relies on reader support to fuel its independent local journalism.

Subscribe to The Record to fund responsible news coverage for your community.

Already a subscriber? You can make a tax-deductible donation at any time.