CCL/ESCC notes: St. Ignatius progressing through tough conference schedule

St. Ignatius coach Matt Miller knew heading into the season that the Wolfpack would be tested every week. With an elevated schedule because it won the CCL/ESCC Green last season on top of joining the Blue division this year, St. Ignatius was set to have one of the tougher schedules in the megaconference.

The Wolfpack sit at 3-2 after five weeks. They’ve beaten St. Louis University High, IC Catholic and St. Viator and lost to Fenwick and Mount Carmel.

While Miller would have preferred to be 5-0 at this point, he said St. Ignatius has gained plenty of valuable experience.

“We’d obviously rather be in that position,” Miller said. “But the guys are progressing, which is what you want to see. Learning from those games, getting better is of course what’s important.”

St. Ignatius’ opponents this season are 27-18. The five teams they’ve played are 15-10 through five games, while their four remaining opponents (Loyola, Marist, Montini, Brother Rice) are a combined 12-8.

The Wolfpack have kept up their high pace of scoring so far this season. St. Ignatius has scored at least 24 points in each of its games this year and is averaging 34.2 points per game. Opponents have averaged 25.4 points against the Wolfpack defense.

Miller credited the return of senior quarterback Jack Wanzung for the offense not skipping a beat with its triple-option offense. Miller at times has considered Wanzung as another coach.

“His experience, he can make suggestions and things that he’s seeing,” Miller said. “Just being poised and knowing what we’re looking for. Having a returning quarterback is huge.”

Miller will need more from Wanzung and the rest of the Wolfpack as they try to return to the playoffs. St. Ignatius reached the Class 8A quarterfinals last season and the Class 6A semifinals in 2022.

“We’d obviously rather be in that position. But the guys are progressing, which is what you want to see. Learning from those games, getting better is of course what’s important.”

—  Matt Miller, St. Ignatius coach

The Wolfpack will carry what they’ve learned so far this season into their final stretch, starting against the Ramblers on Friday.

“I think we’ve definitely learned that the margin for error is small and we better take advantage of every opportunity to practice and get better,” Miller said. “You’d hate to look back and have one of those cost you.”

Mustangs stacking wins

St. Rita has built momentum heading into the second half of the season. The Mustangs are 4-1 after going 5-5 in coach Martin Hopkins’ first season last year and currently hold a three-game winning streak.

Hopkins credited the Mustangs’ belief in one another after picking up strong wins to start the season.

“Not letting up on each other, just kind of believing in one another,” Hopkins said of St. Rita’s mentality. “We say believe in each other, believe in yourself and believe in the plan. They’ve done a good job with that.”

St. Rita’s three-game winning streak started with an important sequence during its Week 4 matchup against St. Francis, according to Hopkins. After St. Rita failed to build much momentum on its opening drive, St. Francis blocked a punt and started its drive deep in Mustangs territory. St. Rita’s defense held St. Francis to no points off the drive and then went on to win the game 31-13.

Hopkins credited his senior group for keeping the team motivated for its games and provided much needed leadership. Once St. Rita started picking up wins, it became easier to build a strong start.

“It’s stacking those good weeks on top of each other,” Hopkins said. “By the time the playoffs come, we should have a confident football team that knows how to practice, knows how to play, shows up on Friday.”

The Mustangs will try to keep stacking wins as they approach their goal of winning a CCL/ESCC Green title and a state championship. They’ll face a tough test Friday when Nazareth visits in a pivotal Green matchup.

Both teams will enter 1-0 in division play and a win on Friday could give either the Mustangs or Roadrunners the driver seat to accomplish one of their goals.

“We talk about being a championship team, we all preach on it, but now it’s time to be about it,” Hopkins said. “This is a great week to put our talk into action.”

Roadrunners enjoying regular season wins

Nazareth finds itself in a different position than it’s been after five weeks the past couple of seasons. The Roadrunners were 0-4 last season and 2-4 in 2022 before going on historical runs each season to win back-to-back Class 5A titles.

Coach Tim Racki and his players are happier to be at 4-1 this time around after its win over Joliet Catholic on Friday.

“It’s nice to finally enjoy regular season victories,” Racki said. “I’ve been saying that since last year ended. We made history because we weren’t good during the regular season. We’re done with that, we’ve been there, done that. Let’s have a solid regular season, get into the playoffs and then think about making a run.”

The Roadrunners value the experience they got from both playoff runs and feel like it will help them in their quest for a three-peat this season. But senior quarterback Logan Malachuk admitted winning early does take away pressure later on.

“It definitely feels so much better,” Malachuk said. “We definitely don’t have that, because basically last year every game was a playoff game after Week 4. Just to have that luxury knowing that we’re off to a good start. We need to keep it going. Our goal isn’t 4-1, 4-2, our goal isn’t 5-1. We want to keep going as long as possible.”

Hilltoppers experience CCL/ESCC ‘dogfight’

Joliet Catholic experienced the highs and lows of competing in the CCL/ESCC during its last three games. The Hilltoppers beat Fenwick, 14-13, in Week 3 and then survived Marist, 31-30 in overtime, in Week 4 before falling 16-13 to Nazareth on Friday.

“You’re playing some really good teams week-in and week-out, it’s going to be a dogfight,” Joliet Catholic coach Jake Jaworski said. “The last two weeks we won by one point and then today we lose by three. I love where our defense is at, our offense, we’ve got to come around a little bit. It’s the little things. When you’re playing top-ranked teams week-in and week-out, it’s going to be the little things that are going to be the difference. We have to hone those up.”