HJ Grigsby’s injury hurts Joliet Catholic in IHSA Class 5A state title loss to Nazareth

NORMAL – HJ Grigsby sat in the locker room at halftime and tried to rest and regroup. The Joliet Catholic senior had just run for 223 yards in one half of a state championship game.

But on his last carry of the second quarter, Grigsby injured his ankle.

“I just rolled up on it,” he said. “Out of 10, (the pain level) was probably an 11. I tried to get all the weight off it as possible at halftime and then I had to come back for my team.

“It’s bigger than me. It was my last game as a Hilltopper, so I had to come back.”

Grigsby returned and gutted out a gritty performance to try to lead his team to a title, but Nazareth scored the final 31 points of the game Saturday to rally for a 38-20 win in the Class 5A state championship game at Hancock Stadium.

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Nazareth celebrates with the trophy Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023, after their IHSA Class 5A state championship win over Joliet Catholic at Hancock Stadium at Illinois State University in Normal. (Mark Busch)

The Roadrunners (9-5) completed a historic, unlikely journey to the state title after starting 0-4 and finishing the regular season 4-5, in the process denying Joliet Catholic (10-4) in its bid for the program’s 16th championship.

Grigsby finished with 278 yards and a touchdown on 34 carries to lead the Hilltoppers. He spent the second half trying to grind out yards while limping noticeably after just about every run.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Joliet Catholic coach Jake Jaworski said. “He’s a team captain and a senior in his last go-around. You ask him a question about himself and he refers to his teammates, just like everyone else on this team. That’s what gotten us here. We have guys who lead by example.”

Joliet Catholic jumped to a 20-7 lead. The Hilltoppers made a strong statement on their opening drive, going 83 yards on just six plays, capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by Grigsby.

Nate Magrini added a 5-yard touchdown run and Keegan Farnaus scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 41 seconds left in the first half, two plays after Grigsby’s injury.

The Hilltoppers, who finished the game with 315 rushing yards, were running wild behind an offensive line led by its lone senior, Brady McKeon.

“I’ve got to give credit to the other guys on my o-line,” McKeon said. “We have the best offensive line in the state of Illinois. Those juniors all have a lot of grit and they all wanted it bad. I give them all the credit.”

The Joliet Catholic defense, meanwhile, had the Roadrunners out of sorts.

“Definitely in the first half, we made some big plays and the team was working together as a unit,” senior defensive lineman and Wisconsin recruit Dillan Johnson said. “It really felt like we had the momentum going in.”

Nazareth pulled within 20-10 on a 20-yard field goal from Andrew Fowler on the last play of the first half.

In the second half, the Roadrunners – much like they did in the second half of their season – turned things around completely.

Star defensive line Gabe Kaminski sparked the comeback by intercepting an Andres Munoz pass at the Nazareth 15-yard-line – denying the Hilltoppers’ bid to go up by three scores – and returning it to the 47. That led to a 3-yard touchdown pass from Logan Malachuk to James Penley.

Malchuk hit Penley again for a 52-yard score that gave the Roadrunners the lead, and tacked on two more touchdown passes as Nazareth pulled away.

“We got off to a great start,” Jaworski said. “We got that score right before halftime. We just couldn’t get some things going in the second half. We missed some opportunities that we had and those guys made more plays than we did.”

Grigsby and his teammates certainly left it all on the field.

“It hurts that we didn’t win but I’m proud of my team,” Grigsby said. “Before the season even began, there were doubts about us and if we were going to make it out of our schedule. We put our heads down, didn’t listen to the noise. They didn’t think we’d make it this far and I’m glad we proved the doubters wrong.”