Prairie Ridge, Nazareth seem like unlikely first-round opponents

Prairie Ridge slipped out of Class 6A and is one of the largest 5A schools in the football bracket for the first time since the IHSA went to eight classes in 2001.

Nazareth was one of six 4-5 teams that made it into the 256-team field, sporting a whopping 56 playoff points for its opponents’ wins.

While both are glad to be where they are, neither may be thrilled to see each other in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs. The No. 2-seeded Wolves (9-0) host the No. 15 Roadrunners at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Nazareth is the defending Class 5A state champion and started this season 0-4.

Prairie Ridge, the 2022 Class 6A runner-up to East St. Louis, made it through the Fox Valley Conference unbeaten, but Chicago Payton (9-0) got the top seed with 41 points to the Wolves’ 36.

Thus, Prairie Ridge, with three state championships since 2011 (along with two runner-up finishes), and Nazareth, with four titles since 2014 (and two runner-up finishes) are meeting right off the bat.

In other games involving area teams, all Friday, No. 25 Niles West (6-3) is at No. 8 Huntley (8-1) in Class 8A; No. 23 Jacobs (6-3) is at No. 10 Lincoln-Way Central (8-1) in 7A; No. 14 Libertyville (5-4) is at No. 3 Cary-Grove (7-2) and No. 16 Crystal Lake Central is at No. 1 Lake Zurich (8-1) in 6A; and No. 12 St. Viator (5-4) is at No. 5 Richmond-Burton (7-2) in 4A. Libertyville and C-G kick off at 6:30 p.m., all other games start at 7.

Wolves coach Chris Schremp was not shocked by the pairing after watching projections for the last two weeks of the season.

“There’s a couple different ways you can look at it: You can say it’s a bad draw for us, but I look at it the other way and say I don’t think Nazareth wants to come play us at our field,” Schremp said. “I’ll go with that. We’re the 9-0 team, they’re a 4-5 team, I’m sure they were hoping to play someone else, too.”

The Roadrunners lost to Prairie Ridge 28-21 for the 2017 Class 6A state championship in DeKalb, then won 7A the next season.

“I’m just happy for our players that we got a shot in the playoffs and our strength of schedule was rewarded,” Roadrunners coach Tim Racki said. “It is a big challenge as they are a strong team with a storied tradition. They have an excellent run game and stifling defense. Hoping our strength of schedule these past nine weeks helps us.”

Prairie Ridge looks vastly different than last season when quarterback Tyler Vasey ran for a state-record 3,878 yards and scored 53 touchdowns, which tied the season record.

The Wolves thrive with a defense that has allowed only 81 points and an offense that grinds out long drives and alleviates mistakes.

Schremp hopes the way the Wolves run their triple-option offense causes issues for Nazareth’s defense.

“[Nazareth] is used to having teams where they can pass rush up field and just disrupt things in the backfield,” Schremp said. “Vertical penetration against us is a killer [hurting the defense]. That’s what they’re used to doing, so they have a couple days to change what they’ve been doing the entire season.”

Fullback Jack Finn (913 yards), quarterback Joey Vanderwiel (526) and running backs Dom Creatore (507) and Luke Vanderwiel (431) provide a balanced attack.

The Roadrunners will be in stark contrast with no player having rushed for more than 260 yards. Quarterback Logan Malachuk has thrown for 2,108 yards with 22 touchdowns and two interceptions.

James Penley (50), Jake Cestone (30), Garrett Reese (25) and Trenton Walker (24) are the leading receivers.

Schremp is concerned about Nazareth’s speed all over the field.

“They’re really fast everywhere,” Schremp said. “They saw it a little bit [of option] against St. Ignatius, our offenses are similar, but we have a different style of option compared to them. I feel good about us being able to run the ball at them. We’ll see how they can handle our style of play.”