Providence gets big special-teams performance to oust defending Class 4A state champ Joliet Catholic

NEW LENOX – Late in the second quarter of Saturday afternoon’s Class 4A second-round matchup between Providence and Joliet Catholic the Celtics were flagged for running into the punter.

The play led to a first down and allowed the Hilltoppers to keep the football. This incident, however, did not deter Providence from looking to gain any edge it could from its special teams.

In the second half, Providence both blocked a field goal and blocked a punt to set off a huge momentum swing that carried the Celtics to a 24-14 victory over the defending Class 4A state champions.

Providence (7-4) will play host to Richmond-Burton (11-0) in the quarterfinal round at 2 p.m. Saturday. Richmond-Burton defeated Urban Prep-Bronzeville 54-6 on Friday night.

“It’s another phase of the game that we take just as seriously as offense or defense,” Providence coach Tyler Plantz said of his special teams. “It’s not just something we brush over. These guys have bought in and they want to make special teams a weapon.”

Consider that weapon deployed and active.

Trailing 7-3 to start the second half, Providence forced Joliet Catholic into a punt situation. The Hilltoppers had been utilizing a shorter than usual distance between the line of scrimmage and their punter possibly to combat a bad transition from center because of the wind, but the alignment allowed Providence to get to the punter quicker.

The Celtics did.

B.J. Olson got a clean block on the punt and had the presence of mind to find the location, scoop it up and barrel all the way down to the Joliet Catholic 27-yard line. On the next play, Jack Tess took a reverse handoff and sprinted into the end zone to give Providence a 10-7 lead.

In the previous matchup of these two teams (a 49-41 Joliet Catholic win in Week 4), the Hilltoppers always seemed to have an answer for each Providence surge. It appeared they had one again using a 34-yard completion to Kivlin Van Tassel to get deep into Providence territory and a pass interference penalty then pushed them inside the 10-yard line. The drive stalled there though, and a delay of game penalty pushed the Hilltoppers back five yards into a 31-yard field goal attempt.

Providence broached the line again with sophomore Luke Leverett swatting down the field goal into Gavin Hagan’s territory, where he promptly scooped up the ball and scurried 74 yards into the end zone.

“We’ve been practicing all week and Luke’s been as we call it ‘bending the circle’ and he got there,” Hagan said. “And my job was to scoop it and score and we executed it perfectly. We knew our special teams were going to be a big factor, our special teams were last time and they still got the best of us. But this week we locked in the special teams and look at the outcome.”

Providence poured more salt in Joliet Catholic’s wounds on the ensuing kickoff after the blocked field goal return. A perfectly executed onside kick was recovered by Providence and Jamari Tribett (20 carries, 114 yards) capped off the drive with a 13-yard touchdown run to push Providence’s lead to 24-7.

Then it became all about the finishing moves. Providence carried a 13-point lead into the fourth quarter in the teams’ first meeting only to have Joliet Catholic roar back with a big final frame. Although the defense had been playing fantastic up until that point, Plantz was hoping his team was finally ready to show it had learned lessons from missteps earlier in the year.

“It was about maturity and learning how to win,” Plantz said. “Throughout the course of the year we’ve probably made every mistake you can make and it has been heartbreaking. But our response hasn’t been pointing fingers is been trying to figure out where the problem is and how to fix it.”

The defense did surrender a touchdown in the game’s final 10 seconds to tighten up the final margin but it was a game that almost from the outset it didn’t feel like Joliet Catholic was going to find its groove against an inspired Providence effort.

“We didn’t execute and a few plays and we didn’t,” Joliet Catholic coach Jake Jaworski said. “We picked a tough day to have a bad day. We couldn’t consistently get off the ball, we knew we some things were going to change from the last time and it took us some time to adjust. And then they just rolled that wave of momentum on us with some big plays.”

Justin Bonsu finished with 115 yards on 17 carries for Joliet Catholic (8-3).