Dominant Joliet Catholic bullies Peoria High on both sides of the ball, 43-8

PEORIA – It took just over five minutes for Joliet Catholic Academy to take control over Peoria High in Saturday’s Class 5A quarterfinal playoff game.

While the Hilltoppers defense quickly stopped the Lions’ first two drives, it took only four offensive plays, two of them touchdown runs by Nate Magrini, to set the stage for the route – and the rout – the rest of the contest would travel.

JCA finished with 412 yards on the ground on 47 carries, while the defense held the hosts – the state’s leader across all classes in points scored this season – to just a single touchdown and about 200 total yards below their season average in a 43-8 victory at Peoria Stadium.

“I had the pull around and trap block on the linebacker on those two [early Magrini touchdown] plays. Back-to-back same play, back-to-back same result,” JCA senior right tackle Cam Juricich said. “Our goal every game is to control the line of scrimmage, and I feel like we did that today.

“We are a tight-knit group and love working and playing for each other. We know if we do our job as a line, our running backs are going to hit the holes hard and more often than not take the ball to the end zone.

“When that happens, it’s just the best feeling.”

JCA (9-3) will now host Morris, a 21-7 winner over Morgan Park, in the semifinals at Joliet Memorial Stadium on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Peoria High – which scored an eye-popping 548 points this season and averaged about 500 yards per game – finished the season 9-3.

The Hilltoppers had a trio of backs rush for 100 yards or more, led by Larry Stringham with 168 yards on 17 carries and a TD. Magrini had 119 yards on 14 tries and three TDs, and Vince Bremner totaled 11 carries for an even 100 yards and a TD.

Magrini’s early scores from 35 and 28 were followed by the Lions closing to within 14-8 with a 10-play, 80-yard drive ending with a TD run from the 3 by Detaurion Pollard (22 carries, 54 yards).

Early in the second quarter, a 4-yard TD run by Stringham made it 21-8, and after the second of two interceptions by Zac Beiter, a 35-yard scoring burst by Bremner followed by one of five PAT kicks by Vinny DiNovo made it 28-8.

“The first one I just went up for and got it, and then the second one I was watching the quarterback’s eyes and came from the weak side,” said Zac Beitler a senior hybrid back who also recorded a pair of tackles for loss. “Our defensive line was really giving Peoria’s QB heck all game long, and when they can get pressure like they did, it gives us guys in the secondary a lot of chances to make plays. Our line did a great job with pressure but did an even better job of stopping the run. They didn’t leave very many gaps to run though.”

On the Lions’ next drive, an INT by Anthony Brown at the JCA 40 helped lead to a 40-yard TD pass from QB Lucas Simulick to a wide-open Bremner in the right flat. The 2PAT conversion run by Magrini made it 36-8 at the intermission.

JCA closed out the scoring early in the fourth on a 5-yard sprint to paydirt by Magrini.

Peoria High finished with 89 yards rushing on 40 carries and was flagged eight times for 70 yards. Lions QB Breon Green went 15-of-28 for 222 yards but four picks – including one by Nick Bueno in the third quarter – with nine of those completions to wideout TQ Webb for 147 yards.

“Peoria plays almost like a punt rush defense with everyone up at the line of scrimmage, so we wanted to be physical up front and just really go right at them,” JCA coach Jake Jaworski said. “I thought we did a great job of mixing things up and creating some mismatches for them in the run game. We only threw the ball three times, but the one we hit right before halftime I felt was huge. It put us up more than three scores starting with the ball in the second half.

“As far as our defense, it was a very solid effort all game long. Peoria is an explosive team, but we did a really good job of limiting the chances for them to use that against us.”