[Preview of this week’s Inside—Booster article.]
By Jack Lydon
The DePaul Prep Rams (3-5, 0-3) had a chance to make a statement Friday night against the St. Laurence (3-6, 1-2). The Vikings just wanted it more and defeated the Rams 10-7 in the regular season finale.
Coming into Friday’s game, St. Laurence had two wins and was on the playoff bubble. They wanted it more. More than DePaul Prep did. That’s not the whole story, but in that field, in those conditions, that may well have been the difference.
“It’s been a rough year for us. We have had a lot of injuries. Lot of close losses. To get to this point and to close it out the way we did, it means a lot to us,” said St. Laurence second year head coach Pat Swanson.
Even with the playoff backdrop, the story was the weather. Right at game time, weather rolled in. The temperature dropped into the low 50s. A strong southerly wind profoundly aided passes and kicks to the south. Driving the ball toward Lane Tech north of DePaul Prep’s stadium was going to be a challenge.
The Rams won the coin toss and chose the wind and not the ball. It looked like a good choice.
On their second possession, DePaul moved the ball to the St. Laurence one-yard line on the strength of the running of senior running back Tyson Hooks. They had two tries from the one to get an early lead on a day when there would not be a lot of scoring.
“Just get it in. Figure out a way to get it in. We felt good about the call at the one,” said Rams first year coach Nick Bizzieri about the fourth down run call.
Hooks took the handoff and was hit and stopped right at the line of scrimmage. Turnover on downs. Still 0-0.
“We had a mental error that cost us. We had a leak through on the back side and it cost us. That is kind of what the story of our season has been,” Bizzieri added. Not a good omen about the day.
Things just continued to get weirder from there.
A windy rain persisted. Just after the halftime buzzer, with the score tied 0-0, the lightning warning alarm went off despite no lighting visible in the area. DePaul Prep officials cleared the stadium telling fans to they had to go wait in their cars. Thankfully, the halftime and lighting delay only lasted about thirty minutes.
Things looked good for the Rams when, with 3:55 on the clock in the third quarter, on fourth and seventeen on their own thirty-six yard line, Rams sophomore quarterback Andrew Campbell pumped a perfect pass to the goal line where junior wide receiver William Pfeffer split double coverage between the corner and the safety and came down into the endzone with great touchdown catch. 7-0 Rams.
In the fourth quarter, St. Laurence got the wind back and tied the game. Vikings’ junior running back Keynan Morgan bounced off tackles, reversed course, went around end and a seven yard loss into a thirteen-yard touchdown.
“We didn’t wrap our arms and tackle. We kind of went up, we call it hockey checking, like you go in and you try to do the big shot. The kid bounced it and that was that,” Bizzieri said.
Tied at seven each with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter and the wind at its back, St. Laurence faced a fourth and fourteen from DePaul Prep’s twenty-six-yard line, Swanson did not hesitate.
“I didn’t even know it was 43 yards. I wasn’t thinking too much about it. Don’t try to kick it too hard because the wind was going to take it. I just kicked it like an extra point and let the wind do the rest,” said Vikings’ senior kicker and Oak Lawn resident, Evan Panther.
It was good. Right down the middle but just over the crossbar. 10-7 St. Laurance.
The Rams were able to put together a couple drives as the time wound down but couldn’t score.
