‘Your Backbone Showed’: Loyola surmounts 18-point road deficit to remain unbeaten

A battle of unbeatens Friday night saw Immaculate Conception hit Loyola Academy with its best shot in the first half and the Ramblers pick themselves on the deck and retaliate in the second half.

“Understand how special this game was,” coach John Holecek told his Ramblers after Friday night’s 45-35 victory on the road. “That was a team win. The defense in the second half was just tremendous — you shut them out.”

While the defense was disarming a dynamite attack, the Ramblers offense was exploding for 24 unanswered points in the second half.

The Ramblers took their first lead with 10 seconds elapsed in the fourth quarter when Matthew Lee threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to fellow junior Jordan McKinley in the right corner of the end zone and another third-year standout Ryan Edwards kicked the extra-point, making the score 38-35.

“Great ball from Matthew,” said McKinley. “I had to go up and get it and make sure I kept a foot in bounds when I landed.”

“That catch by Jordan in the corner was the key play,” said Lee.

With just under four minutes left on the clock, junior running back Melo Maldonado took a spectacular 47-yard touchdown trip, squirming through a narrow opening, darting away from defenders and then running to daylight to clinch the come-from-behind conquest.

“That might be the craziest run I’ve ever seen,” Holecek said, likening it to the fantastic footwork and flyaway speed he’d witnessed when he played against Barry Sanders in the NFL.

“We knew we had to make big plays,” said Maldonado. “I saw the hole open and I knew when I got through I could go all the way.”

“Blocking for that man is an absolute pleasure,” junior tight end Dylan Williamson said of Maldonado. “You know if you get him a hole he’s gone.

“This was a tough battle. We had to respond to the challenge. Our offense had a great game and in the second half the defense was awesome.”

That insurance touchdown was Maldonado’s third of the game, and it put the finishing touches on a Loyola victory that taken in its entirety was perhaps even more thrilling than the 27-24 Hoerster Field conquest of Brother Rice on a 47-yard pass from Lee to senior Joe Haughey with 70 seconds remaining in the fourth game of the season.

Loyola (8-0) went into Friday’s battle of the unbeatens ranked second behind Lincoln-Way East (8-0) in the metropolitan area by the Chicago Tribune, while Immaculate Conception (7-1) was ranked fifth behind Brother Rice (6-2) at fourth and Mount Carmel (6-2) at fifth.

The Ramblers will conclude the regular season in the friendly confines of Hoerster Field on Friday night, Oct. 16 against arch-rival Mount Carmel.

The Caravan won the 2025 IHSA Class 8A championship, ending Loyola’s three-year reign. In their first playoff game on their way to the title they defeated the Ramblers.

First-Half Surprise

After the first half of Friday’s game it seemed as though Loyola fans who had high hopes of going into the Mount Carmel rematch with a perfect record and momentum from a victory at Immaculate Conception were living in a dream world.

“In the first half their quarterback was super,” Holecek said. “He had one of the best halves I’ve ever seen.”

Immaculate Conception’s senior quarterback Nate Lang threw five touchdown passes to enable IC to take a 35-18 lead 31 seconds prior to intermission. Three of those passes went to junior Grant Bowen on plays covering 20, 77 and 20 yards.

Late in the first quarter Loyola tied the score 7-7 on Maldonado’s 14-yard run followed by Edwards’ extra-point kick. Two plays after a touchback kickoff put the ball on the IC 20, Lang and Bowen collaborated on the 77-yard bomb that sent Knights back out front.

Early in the second quarter Edwards kicked a 30-yard field goal but the Knights then went on an 80-yard touchdown drive that was climaxed by Lang’s 19-yard pass to Anthony Carroccio.

Declan Ryan’s 42-yard kickoff runback paved the way for Maldonado’s 5-yard touchdown run, and a fake extra-point kick that produced a pass from senior Dom Maloney to Barrett Schifferdecker (who normally is used as a linebacker) gave the Ramblers a two-point conversion that reduced their deficit to 21-18 with 6:34 to play in the half.

But Lang quickly squelched the rally when he threw touchdown passes of 28 and 18 yards to Will Schmitt and Bowen, respectively, giving the Knights their 17-point advantage.

Even after Edwards’ field goal on the last play of the half that reduced the lead to 35-21, the Ramblers’ chances seemed slim.

Immaculate Conception’s offense appeared to be unstoppable. The Ramblers had been unable to cope with the passing of Lang and the pass-catching proficiency of Bowen, a recipient of 38 Division I college offers. (The 6-4, 205-pound wide receiver and linebacker is the son of Matt Bowen, a veteran of seven seasons in the NFL. After concluding his NFL career Matt Bowen has been an IC assistant coach for 12 seasons.)

The Ramblers went into the second half not only needing to put a lot of points on the scoreboard but also needing to hold down an offense that appeared to be an irresistible force.

Immaculate Conception tried an onside kick to start the second half but Loyola recovered the football at its 49-yard line. In five plays Lee’s passing and Maldonado’s running put the ball on the 4, and from there Lee hurled a touchdown pass to McKinley. Edwards followed with the extra-point kick, putting the Ramblers in striking distance.

The Knights were forced to punt on their ensuing possession, and senior Joe Haughey returned the kick to his 44. The Ramblers penetrated to the 11 but the drive bogged down there and in a fourth-and 11 situation Holecek called on Edwards to attempt a 32-yard field goal that was successful.

That concluded the third quarter scoring and the Ramblers went into the fourth quarter trailing 35-31.

Lee, McKenzie and Maldonado then provided the offense that got them over the hump, and the defense turned the IC attack that had been so effective in the first half into a study in futility.

“Your backbone showed,” Holecek told the players. “We got it done.”

Holecek two-platoons his players, while almost all of IC Coach Bill Krefft’s best players go both ways.

In Holecek’s educated opinion: “Our two-platooning probably resulted in them getting tired.”

So it was truly a team victory.

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