DePaul Prep Scrimmages Libertyville

By Jack Lydon

A soft opening for the 2025 high school football season with the pre-season scrimmage against Libertyville High School for the 4A reigning state champion DePaul Prep Rams. They don’t keep score nor use the clock in these pre-season scrimmages so there wasn’t a winner. It was mostly just a chance to see how the new starters work together.

At times, it took on the look of a hockey game with the entire first team being substituted for the entire second team, like a line change. The game opened with the starters against the starters. Libertyville opened the game with the ball on their 40-yard line and moved right down the field aided by some sloppy tackling by the Rams. Libertyville senior running back Gavin Dickson capped off the drive with a four-yard run off the left tackle.

“We spent all week prepping for Fenwick and they gave us some looks that we know weren't prepared for. I said let’s just line up play football. Our guys responded by doing that. There were some mistakes, but mistakes that I expected and what I know are correctible if we game plan and scheme,” DePaul Prep head coach Mike Passarella. He wasn’t worried about the opening drive. The Rams throttled Libertyville for the rest of the scrimmage.

The Rams answered on the next series with a 56-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Jackson Grabinski to senior wide receiver Connor Barefield. It kind of took me back to the Coal City state semi-final playoff game. The Coal City Coalers drove the field for a touchdown which took most of the third quarter. Bing, bing, bing—the Rams and Juju Rodriguez answered with a touchdown of their own in three plays. The Rams went on to win 21-14 and advance to the 4A State Championship game.

The Rams topped Mt. Zion 40-6 to win 4A state championship. The Chicago Catholic/East Suburban Catholic Super Conference went on to win four of the eight state championships. The Rams victory was not without complaints by detractors who argued that DePaul Prep was actually a school that should have been in 6A based on its enrollment. Some truth in that but the Rams didn’t make the rules and played and won the games on the schedule.

It’s a whole new world now. The IHSA changed the rules and school enrollments and classification will change every year now, not every two years as it was. Based on the enrollment and the multiplier DePaul Prep’s enrollment for classification purposes is 2214. That probably puts them in the 7A classification—a move up three spots.

Adding to this change, is the significantly harder schedule. Gone are Deerfield and Amundsen. The Rams will face Fenwick and St. Ignatius, two more Chicago Catholic League teams, for an entirely CCL/ESCC Super-conference schedule. Getting to six wins and making the playoffs will be a challenge. Doubt the Rams at your peril. They tend the wins the games on the schedule whomever might appear thereon.

The Rams will be fine, 7A or not. There are a ton of kids in the program and the notoriety of a championship is drawing talent. The offensive line is big and skilled. New quarterback Jackson Grabinski looks the part and has a big, accurate arm. This might be a reach but there seems to be a culture of athletic success at DePaul Prep. Basketball, cross country, volleyball, baseball. The soccer teams are winning. Don’t be surprised if DePaul Prep makes some noise in 7A football.

DePaul Prep Advances to State Title Game with 21-14 Win Over Coal City

[Preview of my Inside—Booster Article]

By Jack Lydon

DePaul Prep is in the state championship game. Not basketball. Football.

That’s right. The DePaul Prep Rams football team went to Coal City, Illinois, and defeated the traditionally good Coalers football team 21-14 Saturday afternoon. The Rams will face Mt. Zion on Friday in the IHSA State Championship at Illinois State University’s Hancock Field.

The Rams finished second in the CCL/ESCC Purple Division this year with a 6-3 record. They only elevated out of the CCL/ESCC’s lowest division last year with a record 4-6. DePaul Prep has had exactly one playoff appearance in ten years of existence. They were pasted 40-0 in 2015 by Elmwood-Brumfield.

Not anymore. No hiding it. No denying it. No avoiding it. Believe it. These Rams are legit.

They have very good players and excellent coaches. The team can run and pass. They can run up the middle. They can run wide. They can pass deep. They can pass short. They come back when they are behind. They can play defense. They stop the run. They stop the pass. They sack the quarterback. They bend but not break. They hold a lead.

The Rams had a few miscues in the first half that keep the game within reach for the Coalers. Rams highly regarded senior quarterback, Fernando “Juju” Rodriguez, scrambled out of trouble for a nice gain only to turn the ball over while going down. A little while later, after an amazing run through the Coal City defense, Rams’ senior running back Nick Martinez fumbled the ball just outside the endzone only to have it recovered by Coal City for a touchback.

The Rams defense handled the Coalers in the first half. The Coalers never threatened.

There was plenty of fight left in the Coalers. They took the second half kickoff and drove down the field, six and seven yards at a time, to tie the game 7-7.

The Rams answered in three plays. A 39-yard pass to touchdown pass from Rodriguez to senior wide receiver Matthew Osterman gave the Rams the lead 14-7.

One never felt like the Rams would lose the game. It just took too much for Coal City to score. The Coalers put up another touchdown. The Rams answered again.

“Juju is the best quarterback in the state,” said a fan in the celebration after the game.

“I am just focused on us winning. Just getting to this moment and winning next week,” said Rodriguez. Juju’s probably not the best quarterback in the state. He’s probably not the best quarterback in the Catholic League. Just ask Mount Carmel’s Jack Elliott and Loyola’s Ryan Fitzgerald.

But maybe Juju is. If taking an underdog, overachieving 6-3 team to the state championship game counts a lot more than leading a perennial powerhouse program, he just might be the best quarterback in Illinois. You’ll get no argument from me on that point. 

It wasn’t just Juju who won the game. One cannot overstate the work of the defense, especially the stellar play of senior defensive lineman Michael Casper and linebacker Jett Reese. When Coal City was forced to throw in the closing minutes, the Rams’ defensive backfield, led by senior cornerback Shae Griffith, turned them away. 

The 4A state championship game will be Friday evening, the day after Thanksgiving, at 7:00 p.m., at Illinois State University’s Hancock Stadium. The Rams will face the Mt. Zion Braves. The Braves (10-3) from the Apollo Conference defeated University High from Normal in Saturday’s other 4A semi-final.

“It hasn’t sunk in. I talked to the boys. I talked to the coaches. I’ve got people coming up to me. I am trying to embrace the moment but I am starting to think about getting back to work,” Rams head coach Mike Passarella said.

DePaul Prep is unique. It is a new school but has, or shares, an old tradition. The tradition of Gordon Tech. One of Gordon Tech’s legacies, maybe its most well-known, is a state championship in 1980. Gordon was a big school then. 2000 boys in class 6A, the largest class. DePaul Prep’s head football coach before Passarella was Bill Jeske, a member of that 1980 state champion Gordon Tech team.

“It was 44 years ago yesterday,” Bill Jeske said after the game. “Even though the name [of the school] has changed, the Rams’ traditions continue. I spent last night with my friends. I said this team is just like us. They are a team of destiny.”