Super soph Jordan McKinley goes off for 4 scores to power Loyola’s revenge at St. Francis

Last season St. Francis of Wheaton spoiled the inauguration of Friday night football at Loyola Academy’s Hoerster Field by humbling the mighty Ramblers, 35-21.

The teams played another Friday night game on Sept. 12 but this time it was before a capacity crowd at St. Francis’ Kuhn Memorial Stadium and, with sophomores Jordan McKinley and Matthew Lee in the forefront, Loyola gave the Spartans a 43-21 spanking.

Making his first varsity start, Lee connected with senior wide receiver Robert Clingan on a 36-yard play for the game’s first touchdown with 7:07 elapsed.

The big wide receiver McKinley scored first half touchdowns on runs of 11 and 8 yards out of the Wildcat formation and caught two fourth-quarter touchdown passes from Lee on plays covering 43 and 14 yards, respectively.

Four plays before he scored his second rushing touchdown he had a 16-yard end zone reception of a pass thrown by Lee erased because of an illegal receiver downfield.

The other Loyola TD came on a 79-yard run by senior Cody Reilly in the third quarter.

Lee lauded the performances of seniors Liam Walsh, Colin Vardijan, Tommy Fraumann and Henry Lemmon and sophomores Brock Thompson and CJ Nielsen on the offensive line.

“They all were awesome,” said Lee. “I didn’t get touched (sacked) in the whole game and that’s a tribute to those guys in front of me. And, with Teddy Kurtzweil out with an injury, Robert Clingan and (junior) Brendan Fitzgerald stepped up at wide receiver.”

Ramblers coach Beau Desherow also was “very happy” with the offensive linemen’s performances and said “they played significantly better this week”

“Matthew Lee played very well at quarterback,” Desherow continued. “For a sophomore he was very composed and Jordan McKinley is going to keep getting better and better.”

Zak Zeman, the senior who earlier in the week committed to play college football at Western Michigan, also played an important role in the Ramblers’ 13th straight victory (second this season) by kicking four extra points and a 35-yard field goal and sending his punts and kickoffs deep into the home team’s territory and out of the end zone.

The last time the 2022, 2023 and 2024 IHSA Class 8A champions lost was the 2024 game against St. Francis on Friday the 13th of September.

Lee and McKinley made superlative varsity debuts in the Ramblers’ 21-14 victory in their 2025 season opener at Merrillville (Indiana) on Aug. 29. After playing one series in the first quarter Lee re-entered that game in the opening minute of the fourth quarter when junior Dom Maloney, the starter at quarterback, left the field because of hip and leg injuries.

Merrillville had taken a 7-2 lead seven seconds into the fourth quarter and Lee was confronted with a third-and-10 situation at his own 35-yard line when he took over. His passing highlighted the touchdown drive that enabled Loyola to retake the lead. After Merrillville counterattacked and went back out front. Lee again came through in the clutch and passed to Kurtzweil for the game-winning TD with 12.7 seconds on the clock.

Kurtzweil was hammered by tacklers after making the catch and sustained a broken collarbone. He subsequently had surgery and isn’t expected for a potential return until the playoffs.

Maloney, meanwhile, dressed for the St. Francis game but after Lee’s two outstanding games the sophomore is expected to remain the starter when the Ramblers  head to Chicago’s South Side on Friday, Sept. 19 to open Catholic League Blue Division play against one of the state’s most powerful teams, undefeated Brother Rice. The Crusaders were compelling conquerors in their first three games.

Desherow could not find a second week opponent so his team had an extra week to prepare for St. Francis, which had defeated Kenwood Academy and Mount Zion of Maryland in two earlier games.

“We came out strong and did our job,” McKinley said after the Ramblers’ solid performance. “If we have a really good week of preparation and come out strong again I think we can pull it off (at Brother Rice).”

Against St. Francis, Loyola seized a 13-0 lead in the first quarter, was on top 22-7 at the half and took a 29-13 lead into the final quarter.

Unlike Lee, the Spartans’ senior quarterback, Brock Phillip, was under constant pressure. He was sacked intermittently, several of his completions came in scrambling situations and two of his passes were intercepted by defensive back Rob Simmons, another member of the Ramblers’ sophomore class.

Phillip ran 2 yards for the Spartans’ first touchdown, passed 18 yards to junior James McGrath for their second TD and passed 4 yards to sophomore Blayke Lohmann for their third.

“They’re a good team and they’re very well-coached,” Desherow said of the Ramblers’ Class 5A adversaries. “The game last year is one we wanted to get back. We came prepared.”

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