Brother Rice too much for young Loyola in CCL Blue opener

Loyola Academy began Chicago Catholic League Blue Division competition in the unfriendly confines of Brother Rice’s Tom Mitchell Field on Friday night, and the winners of the last three IHSA Class 8A championships suffered a 28-6 loss that ended their winning streak at 13 games.

Rather than chastise his callow Ramblers, coach Beau Desherow gave them a pep talk.

“That’s only one loss,” he told them. “We’re going to learn from it. We’re only going to get better.”

Leading the victorious Class 7A powerhouse was senior quarterback CJ Gray, who threw touchdown passes of 24 and 47 yards and ran 5 and 71 yards for two more TDs.

The Ramblers went into the game No. 3 in the Chicago Sun-Times Super 25 rankings and the Crusaders were No. 4.

Brother Rice coach Casey Quedenfeld told the Sun-Times’ Michael O’Brien that he considered Loyola “the best program in the state from top to bottom,” and in O’Brien’s educated opinion the Crusaders’ 22-point victory “sends a message to the rest of the state.”

Loyola (2-1) put up a fierce fight in the first half, opening the scoring on Zak Zeman’s 34-yard field goal with 65 seconds to play in the first quarter, and after the Crusaders (4-0) took the lead in the second quarter, the Ramblers narrowed the deficit to 7-6 on Zeman’s 21-yard field goal on the final play of the half.

But the Ramblers took a physical beating from their big and experienced opponents, and in the second half their resistance crumbled.

“We started losing guys (to injuries) and that really hurt,” Desherow told The Record. ”We were the walking wounded defensively; we had linebackers playing on the defensive line against a really good team that has a ton of talent and is well coached.”

The Crusaders have most of the players back from the 6-4 team that allowed a meager four rushing touchdowns last season, and they took away the Ramblers’ ground game for the entire contest, allowing only 4 rushing yards in each half.

Brother Rice also gave sophomore quarterback Matthew Lee a hard time. Facing unrelenting pressure, Lee completed 14 of 29 passes for 149 yards before leaving the game with 9:41 to play after being shaken up on a fierce sack by 240-pound sophomore Kameron McGee.

(Replacing Lee was Dom Maloney, the junior who started the season opener but had to leave that game in the fourth quarter because of hip and leg injuries and didn’t play in the next contest).

“I’m OK (physically),” Lee said after the game. “I take a lot of responsibility (for the problems in the passing game). I’ve got to get the ball off more quickly.

“This game was a very good learning experience for a very young team. We saw some real adversity and we’ll learn from it.”

On the Ramblers’ second possession Lee’s passing enabled them to advance from midfield to the Brother Rice 22 but they were halted there and Zeman’s field goal attempt was wide.

On the first play of the Crusaders’ ensuing possession, the snap from center went over Gray’s head and, with some help from junior linebacker Will Mettee senior lineman Chris Evangelides recovered at the 2-yard line.

“Their quarterback fell trying to get the ball and I punched it out of his hands and we got it,” Mettee said.

It was the Ramblers’ best field position of the game but they couldn’t fully capitalize.

On their first play from scrimmage wide receiver Jordan McKinley went to the backfield in the wildcat formation but the sophomore star of their first two triumphs was stopped for no gain and then thrown for a 5-yard loss.

On third down Lee tried to connect with McKinley in the end zone but defensive interference kept him from making the catch.

Lee then was sacked for a 9-yard loss and the Ramblers were penalized for delay of game, forcing them to settle for Zeman’s field goal that opened the scoring.

The Crusaders answered with an 80-yard 13-play scoring drive climaxed by Gray’s 24-yard touchdown pass to junior Lucas Strang and they took the lead with 7:07 to play in the first half and stayed in front the rest of the way.

“It’s back to the drawing board,” said McKinley, who had tallied five touchdowns and a two-point conversion in the triumphs at Merrillville and St. Francis of Wheaton. “Next week we’ve got DePaul Prep at home.”

The Friday, Sept. 26 contest against the 2024 IHSA Class 4A state champions not only will be the Ramblers’ first home game of the season it also will be homecoming. Kickoff time is 6:30 p.m.

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