Mount Carmel relishes championship opportunity after battling adversity: IHSA semifinal CCL/ESCC notes

Mount Carmel took a moment to appreciate what the Caravan accomplished Saturday night. They had just beaten rival St. Rita in the semifinals for a second time in three seasons to reach their third straight state title game.

After battling some adversity throughout the season, Saturday’s title-game berth felt different than previous clinchers.

“It definitely does,” senior quarterback Jack Elliott, a Vanderbilt commit, said. “You know, it’s been a tough season, battling through adversity. But it’s not going to mean anything if we don’t win the one next week. So we just have to focus on that one, but enjoy this one for sure.”

The Caravan have needed to overcome different obstacles throughout the season. Elliott missed a couple games because of a shoulder injury, which limited what an already young offense could do at times.

Mount Carmel started the season with a 42-38 loss to the Hun School from New Jersey, who went on to finish its season 9-1. The Caravan suffered a 16-13 loss to Brother Rice in Week 6 without Elliott and then lost to Loyola 31-7 to end the regular season.

“We didn’t play to our standard offensively, for sure,” Elliott said. “We didn’t use our full arsenal, I wasn’t running at all.”

But Mount Carmel has a chance to make history in more ways than one when it plays Batavia on Saturday for its third straight state championship. Not only will the program try to win its state-best 16th state title. It can also become the first Caravan state champion team with three losses.

Mount Carmel is looking forward to having all that adversity pay off.

“If there’s obviously a glass-half-full kind of thinking, if there’s anything to take out of those three losses it’s that we get a chance to make history, and that’s what everybody’s talking about,” senior linebacker Matt Mucha said. “We’re going to do it. We’re going to. We might as well make history while we’re doing it.”

Nazareth ready for Class 5A title rematch

The Roadrunners weren’t letting the emotion of reaching their third straight Class 5A state championship game get the best of them Saturday. Their semifinal win over St. Francis set up a rematch of last season’s 5A title game against Joliet Catholic.

“We beat them last year, we beat them this year but none of that matters now,” senior quarterback Logan Malachuk said. “We came into the playoffs 0-0, right now we’re 4-0 but we have one game left and nothing else matters.”

The Roadrunners have won five in a row against the Hilltoppers dating back to 2016. But this current group of Nazareth players have won two straight, once in last season’s state title game and again in 5 of this season.

Despite their recent success, Nazareth isn’t looking past Joliet Catholic.

“It’s very hard to beat a team twice in a season and they’re a phenomenal team,” senior defensive lineman Gabe Kaminski said. “We are going to have to work really hard.”

Loyola appreciates the moment

Even though Loyola still had one more game left to complete their quest for three straight state championships, Ramblers senior quarterback Ryan Fitzgerald appreciated what his team accomplished after beating Lincoln-Way East in the 8A semifinals.

“This is one of the greatest teams I know, one of the proudest teams I’ve been a part of,” Fitzgerald said. “Obviously, last year was a hell of a team and it was really fun. But this year, go from 1-2 to come back and beat the best team in the state. That’s something I’m really proud of.”

Loyola faced adversity as a two-time defending state champion to start the season. The Ramblers lost by a wide margin to East St. Louis to open the season and then lost in Week 3 to St. Francis without Fitzgerald.

Although the Ramblers went undefeated last season, there’s something special about winning 10 straight despite a 1-2 start.

“I can’t thank everyone on this team for grinding, putting in all the work, all those hours on film, coming in every day after school, going, leaving our school at like eight o’clock at night, then going home, doing homework, watching more film,” Fitzgerald said. “I mean, it’s a grind here, and there’s a reason why we win.”

Another successful season for St. Rita

Although it was tough to see it at the moment, St. Rita coach Martin Hopkins was proud of what the Mustangs accomplished after their 7A semifinal loss to Mount Carmel on Saturday.

“We’re not happy with this by any means, but it says a lot about our kids in our program,” Hopkins said. “We weren’t supposed to be here going into the season and everything. So they fought hard. They battled through adversity throughout the year.”

St. Rita returned to the semifinals after losing in the first round last season in Hopkins’ first year as head coach. The Mustangs went on to win the Prep Bowl championship.

Hopkins helped St. Rita keep up its impressive streak in the playoffs recently. The Mustangs have reached the state semifinals in four of the past five playoffs, including two state championship game appearances.

Hopkins gave former St. Rita coach Todd Kuska credit for the program’s continued success.

“Coach Kuska obviously laid the foundation of this program and he’s been a huge help for me,” Kuska said. “I’m lucky I got good kids and good coaches around me.”

Looking at CCL/ESCC championship numbers

The CCL/ESCC qualified six teams for the state championships, the most it could’ve qualified since four of the eight semifinal teams played against a megaconference foe. Mount Carmel and St. Rita played in 7A while Nazareth and St. Francis played in 5A.

The six teams — Loyola, Mount Camel, Nazareth, Joliet Catholic, DePaul Prep and Montini — are the most teams the CCL/ESCC has sent to championship weekend. The megaconference sent five teams the past two playoffs and three in 2021 and 2019.

A maximum of five teams can win a state title since Nazareth and Joliet Catholic play against each other in the 5A title game. Five would beat the record for how many CCL/ESCC teams won a championship the same season. Three won in 2023, four did in 2022 and 2021 had two while 2019 had one.

Prep Bowl update

St. Ignatius will play in its second Prep Bowl championship when it takes on Kenwood on Friday. The Wolfpack previously lost to Simeon in the title match in 2017.

Their Prep Bowl run comes after St. Ignatius failed to qualify for the playoffs in their first season in the Blue division. St. Ignatius ended the season 3-6 and went on to beat Carmel, 34-27, and Niles Notre Dame, 33-0, to qualify for Friday’s championship.

• Friday Night Drive managing editor Steve Soucie and Shaw Local sports editor Josh Welge contributed to this report.