CCL/ESCC notes: St. Francis picks up ‘huge’ win at Loyola to stay undefeated

At first, St. Francis coach Bob McMillen took the Spartans’ 35-21 win over Loyola at face value. St. Francis improved to 3-0 with the win and entered its CCL/ESCC Green opener against St. Rita in Week 4 undefeated.

But looking deeper, McMillen understood the magnitude of traveling up to Loyola during its first night game and handing the Ramblers a two-score loss. The Spartans beat a powerhouse program that McMillen said, along with Mount Carmel, many private schools aspire to become.

“Going out there and beating a team like Loyola is huge, obviously being a 5A school,” McMillen said. “Granted, would it have been a different game with [Ryan] Fitzgerald in there? Probably. But no matter what, we were going to go out there to compete and play as hard as we can, no matter who is the starting quarterback.”

McMillen said the Spartans looked different in their preparation for Loyola after a couple weeks of development, especially on the offensive side with new quarterback junior Brady Palmer. St. Francis hung on to beat Kenwood 27-21 in Week 1 before traveling down to St. Louis in Week 2 to defeat Lift for Life Academy, 42-0.

Heading into Week 3, McMillen thought the Spartans did the little things correctly.

“I really think the kids prepared a lot differently than they did the first two weeks by watching more tape, focusing more on practice and just studying the game plan their coaches gave out,” McMillen said. “I thought they did a great job of executing everything we tried to do. I thought the kids played with a little bit of an edge knowing we were playing an 8A school, a back-to-back state champion.”

While the defense continued its strong start to the season, St. Francis’ offense took its game to another level. McMillen said the coaching staff slowed things down for Palmer and the offense against Loyola and that clearly helped.

“Going out there and beating a team like Loyola is huge, obviously being a 5A school. Granted, would it have been a different game with [Ryan] Fitzgerald in there? Probably. But no matter what, we were going to go out there to compete and play as hard as we can, no matter who is the starting quarterback.”

—  Bob McMillen, St. Francis coach

Palmer threw for 192 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for 87 yards and two touchdowns. Junior wide receiver Zach Washington caught five passes for 94 yards and a touchdown.

McMillen hoped Friday’s win could propel the offense heading into the second third of the season.

“I think we’re starting to jell going into Week 4,” McMillen said. “I think hopefully by the end of the season we’ll be where we want to be. But there’s still a lot of work we have to do not only on the offensive side, but the defensive side and everything else.”

Mustangs pick up confidence-building win

St. Rita coach Martin Hopkins knew the Mustangs would face some adversity against Brother Rice on Friday night. How his young team responded to the adversity seemed to still be a question.

The Mustangs answered that question with a 14-7 win over their Southside rival Brother Rice, going on a game-winning drive in the last couple minutes.

“We had to face some ups and downs, offense, defense and special teams,” Hopkins said. “That was the message all week: We’re going to face some adversity, that’s the game of football. We just have to be ready to respond. I thought the guys did a good job of battling, not giving up.”

There were some tough moments to overcome. Facing third-and-10, junior quarterback Steven Armbruster completed an 80-yard pass to junior Walter Jones to score the go-ahead touchdown with just over a minute left in the game.

The score was less than a minute after the Crusaders tied the game 7-7 with 1:30 left in the game. Hopkins commended both senior linebacker Justin Buckner and senior running back Nick Herman for strong games to keep the Mustangs in Friday’s matchup.

Friday’s win wasn’t only exciting because it was against a rival. It also felt like a gamechanger for a young team under a second-year coach.

“It’s definitely a good confidence builder,” Hopkins said. “Obviously playing in the CCL/ESCC is not easy, every week is a challenge, wins aren’t easy to find. When you’re able to fight through a game like that and battle through that adversity as a team and see that we can win those types of games definitely builds confidence.”

Hopkins doesn’t want the Mustangs to look too far ahead though. They’ll play undefeated St. Francis on Friday before playing other CCL/ESCC Green rivals Nazareth and IC Catholic later in the year.

While Week 3 felt like a big moment, there’s still work left to be done.

“It’s trying not to see too much of the big picture right now because it’s only Week 4, even though it might feel like it’s later in the season with how the first couple weeks have gone,” Hopkins said. “But it’s still early on. It’s just focusing on us and keep getting better, execute the game plan on Friday night.”

Lions’ hot offensive start continues

Although it took a half, St. Viator showed how dynamic its offense can be in Friday’s 34-7 win over Marmion. The Lions scored 21 points in the second half, 15 of which came in the third quarter.

Senior quarterback Cooper Kmet connected with sophomore Damacio Ortegon for a couple scores, but Kmet’s ability to spread the ball around and the Lions’ strong running attack helped St. Viator pick up a win.

“It’s great because there’s no percentage of targets or touches you’re looking for necessarily,” St. Viator coach David Archibald said. “You’re just trying to execute the offense and allow Cooper to distribute the ball where he sees it best. To be versatile.”

St. Viator’s Week 3 performance kept up with a strong offensive start for the Lions. Through three wins, St. Viator has scored 137 points, averaging 45.7 points per game.

Friday’s win was a mixed bag for Archibald. While he’s happy to see a strong performance, he knows the offense can reach another level.

“I have such a high belief in their ability that I never feel content,” Archibald said. “Any play or drive that we don’t execute as well as we could, I know our potential. My eyes are always going to look at things through the lens of that really strong potential that I see in them to execute at an outstanding level.”

Caravans’ plentiful offensive targets

Mount Carmel senior quarterback Jack Elliott showed off another one of his weapons in Friday’s win over Nazareth when he had a big day throwing to senior Cooper Lehman. Elliott had already shown a strong connection with sophomore wide receiver Quentin Burrell earlier in the season.

But Elliott said after Friday’s win that there are more weapons still to show off.

“The two of them are great, but we have a whole other receiver corps and they’re still growing and developing,” Elliott said. “They just haven’t got their shots yet, no one knows about them so that’s a good thing. They can’t play in for those kids and when those kids get the ball, they can make some stuff shake.”

Learning lessons for Roadrunners

Nazareth coach Tim Racki wasn’t panicking after the Roadrunners’ Week 3 loss to Mount Carmel.

Racki was proud to see his team show toughness, effort and resiliency in the loss. He also said there’s much more to gain from a loss to Mount Carmel early in the season than a blowout win.

“You’re playing a great football team so you see what you need to work on and what your strengths are,” Racki said. “I’d much rather that than roll through a schedule and go into a playoffs.”

Final five

St. Francis, St. Laurence, St. Viator, Benet and DePaul Prep are the lone undefeated teams left in the CCL/ESCC after three weeks. That status is familiar to some programs more than others.

St. Francis and St. Viator most recently started their seasons 3-0 in 2022. Benet last went 3-0 to start a year in 2015 while DePaul did it in 2015. St. Laurence last started its season 3-0 in 2009.