Late drive leads Nazareth past Sycamore, into Class 5A title game

SYCAMORE – Nazareth’s back has been against a wall all year, so when the Roadrunners were facing a do-or-drive in the final five minutes of a Class 5A semifinal against Sycamore, they were ready.

Justin Taylor picked up 28 yards on third-and-short to get the Roadrunners into the red zone, and three plays later, Logan Malachuk found Zach Hayes for a 7-yard touchdown pass, giving the Roadrunners a 10-7 win against the Spartans.

Nazareth, which started the season 2-4 before winning three straight just to make the playoffs, now finds itself one win from a state championship.

“We knew that we were going to step up,” Taylor said. “Times like those, that’s when we step up and play our best. Honestly, when it comes down to the wire when everything is on the line, when everybody is hurt, everybody is in pain, we know we’re going to outlast everybody, step up, keep our goals and keep on pushing.”

[ Photos: Sycamore, Nazareth football meet in state semifinal ]

Sycamore (12-1) led 7-3 at the break.

Nazareth (9-4) put together a little drive early in the fourth, but Kiefer Tarnoki intercepted Malachuk – the sophomore quarterback’s second pick of the game.

The Roadrunners once again clamped down on defense against Sycamore and forced a punt. Nazareth took back over on offense with 4:52 left in the game.

While the Roadrunners had been using screens with limited success early in the game, Malachuk started this drive with a deeper pass to Jaden Fauske to pick up 21 yards. Facing a third-and-1 at the Sycamore 37, the Roadrunners put Taylor in at quarterback and he picked up 28 yards – by a wide margin the biggest ground gain of the day for Nazareth.

Nazareth coach Tim Racki gave credit to offensive coordinator Casey Moran for pulling out the Wildcat formation.

“We’ve been working on it for a long time and what a time to pull it off,” Racki said. “It’s not surprising because he wants it on his shoulders, he wants to take it in his own hands. Defensively, offensively, he knows the Nazareth way and he’s been leading these guys tremendously.”

Taking over at its own 20, Sycamore still had 2-plus minutes to work with after Nazareth grabbed the lead. Eli Meier hadn’t completed a pass for the Spartans before the drive, but got them down to the Nazareth 30. Under pressure, he scrambled on a first-and-10 with less than a minute left and was intercepted by Lesroy Tittle. Hayes had an interception earlier in the game of Meier.

“There was still time,” Sycamore coach Joe Ryan said. “We had three timeouts left. These guys are always going to play. We’re going to play until the finish and that’s what we did.”

Nazareth had the first scoring chance of the game, driving down to the Sycamore 10. But Carter York had a big tackle on the sidelines to stop Taylor on a sweep and Lincoln Cooley sacked Malachuk on third down. Facing a fourth-and-goal from the 21, Meier intercepted Malachuk at the goal line and took it out to the 7.

That led to the Spartans’ only scoring drive, 93 yards on 11 plays without ever facing a third down. Tyler Curtis handled most of the work on the drive and capped it with a 9-yard scoring run.

“12-1 now, that’s pretty ... good, I’d say,” Sycamore linebacker Ethan Bode said. “Losing to a private school in the playoffs, in the semifinals. I’ve had two straight semifinal appearances. I thought we were going to a state championship. But we had a great season, honestly. Everyone worked their [butts] off all season. We can’t be disappointed in what we did this season. We should be proud of what we did cause we played very well every game.”

Nazareth got three points back before halftime, again getting into the Sycamore red zone. This time, the Roadrunners elected to bring Hayes out for a 33-yard field goal and he hit it with 47.9 seconds left.

“For the amount of adversity we’ve been through, this is rewarding,” Taylor said. “Not just for me but the team, the coaches, everyone that put time into this program. No one outside of Naz thought we’d make it this far. I’m glad the work we put in is finally paying off.”

Sycamore outgained Nazareth 261-221 in the game, with Sycamore getting 219 on the ground and Nazareth getting 155 in the air. Malachuk was 16 of 25 with two interceptions. Taylor had 42 yards on the ground and 48 receiving yards on six catches.

The Roadrunners will face Peoria at 10 a.m. Saturday in Champaign for the Class 5A title. Peoria was a 76-56 winner against Morris in the other state semifinal.

A state championship berth for Nazareth seemed unlikely after a 2-4 start, with one of those wins a 2-0 victory against Kankakee to start the year. But Racki said the team never stopped fighting.

“I’ve been blessed to reach a lot of state titles as a head coach, but this team – I’ve never had a 5-4 team that squeaked into the playoffs, winning by a safety Week 1, get here,” Racki said. “I wasn’t focused on that back then when we were scratching to get into the playoffs. I was focused on the growth. The big teams we lost to, some of those teams are still playing or lost in the quarters and we made progress against those teams. We were sparring against the big boys, and you hope that helps you when you get to the tournament.”