CCL/ESCC notes: Fenwick rallies behind coach to beat St. Ignatius

Fenwick coach Matt Battaglia owned up to his team at halftime of Friday’s game against St. Ignatius. He admitted that he had made a mistake going for it on fourth down at midfield, which ultimately put the Wolfpack in good position to take a seven-point lead into the half.

The Friars not only said they had their coach’s back but showed it on the field too. They put together a strong second half in order to beat their rivals 34-24.

“Our guys rallied around me and I owned up a halftime, I made a decision that cost us, put us in this position,” Battaglia said. “The kids had my back and the coaches’ back as well.”

Different Friars stepped up to have their back. Sophomore running back Jalen Morgan carried the ball 18 times for 142 yards and also had a reception for 10 yards to help the Friars score more than 30 points for the second time this season.

“Our guys rallied around me and I owned up a halftime, I made a decision that cost us, put us in this position. The kids had my back and the coaches’ back as well.”

—  Matt Battaglia, Fenwick head coach

Defensively, senior leaders like defensive lineman Nate Marshall and linebacker Jack Paris led the team with strong plays. But other players stepped up so Fenwick’s top playmakers didn’t need to be on for every single play.

Fenwick held St. Ignatius to seven points in the second half.

“When we have all three units clicking on the same page, we feel like we can compete and take over some games,” Battaglia said. “Defense played lights out, offense capitalized on the drives we had and we had a big special teams return. We felt like we won all three phases.”

Despite the strong 2-0 start to the season, the Friars aren’t getting ahead of themselves. Returning starters have reminded the team that they also started 2-0 last season, only to miss the playoffs at 4-5. They’ll take on Joliet Catholic on Friday.

“We know you’re only as good as your next day,” Battaglia said. “We approach each day with that 0-0 mindset. We need to continue to work to get better each day.”

Rams’ experience paying off early

After coming close to making the playoffs last season at 4-5, DePaul Prep’s senior class made a commitment to doing whatever it took over the offseason to finally get over the hump. The Rams haven’t made the playoffs since 2015, and since the school changed names from the former Gordon Tech.

Two weeks in, that work has paid off with a 2-0 start and a pair of impressive wins.

“They have the experience but they also have the belief,” DePaul coach Mike Passarella said. “They have that ability to understand what they’ve got going on and what the task is at hand. They believe in what we’re trying to do and trying to accomplish, they’re bought in.”

The Rams started the season with a couple of revenge wins. DePaul took down Deerfield 35-28 to start this season after losing 34-14 in their previous meeting. In Week 2 this year, the Rams took care of Marian Central, 35-7, after the Hurricanes beat them 47-20 to end the 2022 season.

Passarella credited the senior leadership and experience for being a major difference this season. DePaul has 34 seniors, with a majority of returning players on both sides of the ball.

“It just shows that the kids were engaged, locked in,” Passarella. “They were able to overcome adversity.”

DePaul will look to continue its revenge tour against Marian Catholic on Friday. The Spartans won 40-36 last season by scoring with 20 seconds left in the game.

“We know that we have to go out and just do our job, the kids know what the task is at hand,” Passarella said. “They have been locked in for the first two weeks, they’ve been locked in at practice. If we do that week-in and week-out, we should be in a good spot.”

Vikings look dominant in 2-0 start

St. Laurence faced some questions about what the program would look like with two returning offensive starters and four returning defensive starters from last season’s team that reached the Class 4A state championship game.

So far so good.

The Vikings have outscored their opponents (Noble Academy, Evanston) 114-15 in their first two games. Coach Adam Nissen has started to get a clearer picture of what this team will look like.

“My focus for the first two weeks was trying to find guys who are going to step up into leadership roles,” Nissen said. “Our captains have done a great job.”

Through two games, St. Laurence has used mostly a running attack to win games. After playing a few snaps in their opener, Vikings starters played most of Friday’s 42-7 win over Evanston and showed growth.

New senior quarterback Chase Kwiatkowski and senior running back Harley Rizzs led the way against the Wildkits with a strong rushing attack. But Nissen said the Vikings know they’ll need to throw the ball if they want to succeed in their CCL/ESCC schedule, which starts Friday with a matchup against Niles Notre Dame.

Nissen is confident Kwiatkowski and the offense can live up to the billing.

“We have a lot of ways we can beat you,” Nissen said. “You have a lot of weapons, from the perimeter, to our running backs to our quarterback, so it’s a pick-your-poison kind of offense.”

RedHawks’ trust pays off

Down 27-21 with 1:44 left in the game, Marist players trusted in each other and the play calling in order to tie Friday’s game against Brother Rice that the RedHawks eventually won 34-27 in overtime.

“You’ve got to trust in your QB at that point,” Marist senior John McAuliffe said. “You can’t run the ball. You need your QB to throw accurate balls, get out of bounds, do the right thing, don’t turn the ball over and he did. We’ve got full trust in him and he did what he does.”

Marist tied the game with 38 seconds left when senior quarterback Jacob Ritter found McAuliffe for a 29-yard touchdown. The score capped a six-play, 80-yard drive that took place in 1:06 of game time.

Marist coach Mike Fitzgerald said Marist worked on two-minute situations quite a bit in practice. The RedHawks felt comfortable once they played in an empty set and eventually connected on out and up play to tie the game.

“We did something on the fly in the heat of the moment,” Fitzgerald said. “They were able to execute it. Credit to them.”

Crusaders give up critical plays

While Brother Rice coach Casey Quedenfeld gave full credit to Marist for executing plays to win Friday’s game, he questioned whether the RedHawks would’ve scored if Brother Rive had not made mistakes.

Quedenfeld pointed out Marist converted on three third downs on its first scoring drive in the second quarter. The RedHawks also took advantage late in the second quarter when the Crusaders fumbled a snap exchange with 36 seconds left on their own 25. Marist went on to score on its next play to tie the game 14-14 heading into halftime.

“It’s all hindsight,” Quedenfeld said. “Kids are kids, that’s why it’s high school football and that’s why we love it so much. We think that we do a good job, credit to coach over there, getting it done when it mattered the most. We didn’t.”

Jack Lausch gets collegiate start for Wildcats

Northwestern head coach David Braun announced Monday that Brother Rice alumnus Jack Lausch would become the Wildcats’ starting quarterback against Eastern Illinois on Saturday. The move came after Mike Wright struggled in Northwestern’s first two games of the season.

Lausch will make his first start after appearing in 10 games his first two seasons with the program. During that time, he completed six of his 11 attempts for 78 yards and an interception. He also rushed for 76 yards and one touchdown.

“He’s done such a great job of developing in so many different areas,” Braun told reporters Monday. “From throwing from the pocket, to some of the things that he can do throwing the ball on the run, just be more consistent with those types of things with his decision-making. But the growth that we’ve seen out of Jack Lausch throughout last fall but specifically from January on has been something that leads us to have a lot of optimism for not only this week but the future.”

Lausch was the CCL/ESCC Blue Player of the Year during his senior season with the Crusaders. He finished the season with 2,447 passing yards and 20 touchdowns while also rushing for 1,084 yards and scoring 21 touchdowns on the ground.

Ramblers go under the lights

Loyola will host its first-ever Friday night game against St. Francis this week after adding lights to its football stadium over the summer. Players, coaches and fans are excited for a new experience after hosting home games on Saturday throughout its history.