St. Laurence coach Adam Nissen has repeatedly said that the Vikings are a very different team now than they were at the beginning of the season because of injuries.

But the return of a couple key players for the playoffs have helped St. Laurence look like the team that started the season 5-0.

Senior quarterback Chase Kwiatkowski and senior running back Harley Rizzs have both returned from their respective injuries that kept them out for portions of the regular season. They haven’t skipped a beat and helped the Vikings advance to the Class 4A quarterfinals for a second straight season.

“It’s two explosive guys,” Nissen said. “If they’re not 100%, they’re battling back to get there. It’s two seniors, so I don’t think anything, anything moving forward, is going to keep them out of the game.”

Rizzs showed no ill effects from an ankle injury when he rushed for a career-high 216 yards in a first-round win over Richmond-Burton. He added a rushing and receiving touchdown in a second-round win over Wheaton Academy as Kwiatkowski provided leadership and completed big plays in the air.

Their return has helped the Vikings play complementary football like they did earlier in the season. St. Laurence held R-B to 17 points and then Wheaton Academy to 14 points.

Nissen credited defensive leadership from senior defensive lineman Gary Coleman, senior linebacker Jacob Bylina and junior safety Cory Les to helping limit some high-paced offenses.

“I think we’re extremely physical,” Nissen said. “I think it’s kind of our calling card on the defensive side of the ball. It’s a physical brand of football.”

They’ll need to continue that brand when they travel to DePaul Prep on Saturday. The Rams have averaged 31.8 points per game and are currently looking to build upon their longest playoff appearance since the school changed its name from the former Gordon Tech in 2014.

“I think offensively, if we show up and play how we played the last two weeks, it should be a pretty high-scoring game,” Nissen said. “But, high school football, it’s very unpredictable. So I could see a high-scoring game and I could see a low scoring defensive struggle.”

Mount Carmel shows off the run

Mount Carmel’s offense has gotten plenty of attention throughout the season for its strong passing attack, led by senior quarterback and Vanderbilt commit Jack Elliott. The Caravan showed they can run it just as well in a second round win over St. Charles North in the Class 7A playoffs.

They used the run to get the offense going Saturday on their first two scoring drives.

“We saw some things just personnel wise, if we spread them out, the box was pretty light and they stood to it,” Caravan coach Jordan Lynch said. “So we started just kind of going, you know, had light personnel stuff. And our tight ends, our line blocked our tails off and the holes were there and the running backs ran great.”

Senior running back Danyil Taylor Jr. rushed for 123 yards on eight carries while junior Madden Wilson finished with 62 rushing yards on four carries. Elliott himself got in on the action, running in for two scores.

Elliott said after the game that the Caravan have relied on explosive plays this season. Showing that the Caravan can run the ball is a good boost heading into the quarterfinals.

“Just being able to do that, drive down, inflict their will and do whatever we wanted to their defense and they couldn’t stop it,” Elliott said. “Just a great confidence booster.”

Montini’s championship-like battle

The Broncos’ second-round win over Byron in the Class 3A playoffs had the dramatic makings of a state championship game. The Tigers couldn’t score on a go-ahead 2-point conversion attempt late in the game, handing the Broncos revenge after losing in last season’s semifinal.

The Broncos felt Saturday had a championship-like feel to it.

“It did,” Montini coach Mike Bukovsky said. “But like I told our guys, we’ve done nothing, we’ve won a football game, we beat a great team today, hats off to them, but nothing is done. We’re not settled, we’ve got three more games to go.”

Stevenson leaves Leo

Leo coach Marques Stevenson announced over X, formerly Twitter, on Friday that he’s left Leo to join the De La Salle staff. He will serve as a coach on Meteors coach Harold Blackman’s staff.

Stevenson led the program for two seasons, where the Lions went 2-16.

He’ll try to help Blackmon build up De La Salle’s program. The Meteors were forced to suspend the rest of their season this fall after not having enough players.

Looking at the CCL/ESCC playoff numbers

Nine CCL/ESCC teams advanced to the quarterfinals after 11 teams entered the second round of the playoffs. The megaconference could only advance a maximum of 10 teams since Loyola and Marist played against each other.

The CCL/ESCC will try to match the most teams it has advanced to the semifinals since it formed in 2019. Loyola, Mount Carmel, St. Rita, Nazareth, St. Francis, Joliet Catholic, St. Laurence, DePaul and Montini will each try to move on. The megaconference is guaranteed to advance at least one team since DePaul and St. Laurence play against each other.

Eight teams have qualified for the semifinals in each of the last three playoffs. Seven qualified in 2021 while five did in 2019.

The most CCL/ESCC teams that can win a state championship is five while the highest number of teams who can reach a state championship game is six.

• Sports editor Josh Welge and Friday Night Drive reporter Joel Boenitz contributed to this report.