Morgan Park Falls to St. Francis in 5A Quarterfinal

In a game marred by constant penalties, the last remaining Chicago Public League team, the Morgan Park Mustangs, fell to the St. Francis Spartans 37-14 in IHSA 5A quarterfinals Saturday.

Turnovers and penalties throttled the Mustangs in the first half. The Mustangs had a sixty-two touchdown called back. On the next play, Morgan Park QB Marcus Thaxton throw a side arm pass late down the middle of the field. A big no-no. St. Francis easily picked it off. The Spartans worked the ball down to the Morgan Park nine yard-line and scored on a quick slant to the slot receiver, senior wide receiver Ian Willis. Even so, it was 13-8 St. Francis until late in the second quarter.

Morgan Park (10-1, 7-0) came into the game as the 4 seed with a 10-1 overall record. Its only loss this year was to second ranked Mount Carmel 22-12 in week two.

The Mustangs were 7-0 in the Chicago Public Leagues’ new super-conference, the new Red Division. Before the season, CPS Sports Administration combined the top teams in the Red Division into one sixteen team super-conference. Seven other teams from the conference made the IHSA playoffs the season, Whitney Young, Kenwood, Amundsen, Lane, Simeon, Phillips and Taft. Morgan Park was the last surviving team. It was Morgan Park’s twenty-fifth appearance in the IHSA football playoffs since 1985.

St. Francis in Wheaton came into the game on a hot streak. After getting pummeled 47-0 by Loyola in early October, the Spartans have put together a four-game win streak at the right time. The Spartans come out of the Orange Division of the CCL/ESCC joint Catholic Conference in football this year. The Orange also has two other surviving playoff teams, IC Catholic Prep and Nazareth Academy.

St. Francis is no stranger to playoff football having qualified sixteen time since 1997, winning a state championship in 2005 and advancing to the 4A semifinal game last year.

The game turned late in the first half with St. Francis quarterback Alessio Milivojevic’s eleven-yard touchdown run.

“I like getting hit once or twice on a run. Then I get locked in, clicked in,” said St. Francis senior quarterback and Ball State recruit Alessio Milivojevic. It was the Milivojevic’s 11-yard touchdown run sparked his game on Saturday. Sun-Times Reporter Michael O’Brien captured a video and included it in his Twitter feed. https://twitter.com/michaelsobrien/status/1723424427335925919

After the Milivojevic’s touchdown to make the game 19-8, Morgan Park’s quarterback gave up another interception with under a minute to go. The Spartans worked their way down the short field for a twenty-two yard field goal making the half time score 22-8.

In the second half, Morgan Park scored on a quick bubble screen out to senior wide receiver and Montana recruit Chris Dorr who took it up the sideline 40 yards for the score.

But the second half was just about St. Francis and Milivojevic being able to drive the ball with the run and the pass. Morgan Park gave up two more touchdowns and fell 37-14.

St. Francis advances to play conference rival Nazareth next Saturday in the 5A semi-final. Curiously, the two other surviving 5A teams, Joliet Catholic and Providence Catholic, are also from the CCL/ESCC conference.

Payton Falls to Morgan Park 28-0 in 5A IHSA Second Round

By Jack Lydon 

The Morgan Park Mustangs (10-1, 7-1) took care of business against the Walter Payton College Prep Grizzlies (8-3, 7-2) on Friday evening at Gately Stadium in IHSA 5A playoffs defeating the Grizzlies 28-0. The Grizzlies were able to move the ball and keep the ball away from the Mustangs high octane offence but never threatened to score.

It was an uphill battle for Payton on Friday against Morgan Park. The Mustangs came into the game 9-1 with their only loss to neighborhood powerhouse Simeon Career Academy. Morgan Park’s senior running back Orlando James opening the scoring with a 37-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter.

Aided by multiple Morgan Park penalties, the Grizzlies put together a couple efficient drives. Payton senior quarterback Kyle Osterman connected on some effective flat passes for a couple first downs. Standout Payton senior wide receiver and safety Charlie Newton will be playing football at Columbia next year.

Morgan Park was efficient in the second quarter. A safety and two touchdowns on two possessions. The two-minute drive by Morgan Park at the end of the first half was the turning point of the game.  “We screwed up at the end of the half. We didn’t convert on fourth down. And they ended up scoring,” said Payton head coach Craig Knoche.

The second half was all Morgan Park. Payton couldn’t do much. Morgan Park’s pair of running backs Seth Cyrus and Orlando James ran the ball well breaking tackles up and down the field.

It was a remarkable 7-2 regular season for academically focused school northside CPS magnet school with losses only to DePaul Prep and Lincoln Park. Payton is widely considered the best high school in the State of Illinois, including U. S. News and World Report. The relatively new school, founded in 2000, with approximately 1,200 students, has an impressive football record, qualifying for the state playoffs each year since since 2011. Even so, this is the first year that the Grizzlies have and advanced to the second round with their 42-0 pounding of ITW-Speer last week.

The Grizzlies have struggled with numbers all season, dressing only 35 players for the game. The typically understated Payton head coach Craig Knoche downplayed the successful season. “We want to be able to compete and win IHSA playoff games,” Knoche said.

Morgan Park is probably the second-best football team in CPS behind Simeon. The Mustangs made the news in September. A fight broke out late in the game against Kenwood that resulted in 18-20 ejections and suspensions. CPS officials, fearing that might be trouble between fans of the two schools, moved the game to Lane Stadium on the northside. Despite the suspensions, Morgan Park had only one loss and that to neighboring 6A powerhouse Simeon Career Academy.

Morgan Park will face Nazareth next week in the 5A quarterfinals.

Marian Catholic Shocks Morgan Park 71-69

The Marian Catholic Spartans (13-4, 3-1) upset the #8 Morgan Park Mustangs (9-6, 3-1) 71-69 last night at DePaul Prep’s televised Steve Pappas Shootout.

The Spartans hung around and hung around all game, slowing erasing a small deficit late in the game. Morgan Park had all kinds of chances to win. They just missed shots in the lane they ordinarily make. Marian didn’t.

Marian’ s senior guard Ahron Ulis played as well as I have seen him play. I did not get any stats on the game he had a lot of points. Marian Catholic as a team impressed me. I saw them lose against Notre Dame. The Dons handled them even without Anthony Sayles. Granted it is tough to go to Notre Dame and win a conference game, especially this year. DePaul Prep dropped them in the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic. Frankly, I expected more out of the Spartans.

I saw it yesterday. When they play like that, they can play with anyone.

It was fun to see Ulis matched up on Morgan Park top prospect senior Adam Miller. For much of the game, Marian was in a box-and-one with Ulis shadowing Miller all over the court. It seemed at points that Ulis got under Miller’s skin. I can’t say how effective the box-and-one actually was, but it was fun to watch.

Very high level basketball. A marked contract to the Loyola/St. Viator game a few hours before. Not that that was not high level, just a different kind of high level. Loyola would prefer to score as few points as necessary to win. Frustrating to watch; exasperating to play against. But an interesting and effective style.

#5 Morgan Park Defeats #12 DePaul Prep 62-56

Coach Nick Irvin and his #5 ranked Morgan Park Mustangs came to the DePaul Prep this evening (Jan. 12, 2019) for a shootout with the #12 ranked DePaul Prep Rams. In a high energy game, the Mustangs held off the Rams throughout the whole game despite good shooting by the Rams. Although the Rams drew within 3 points late in the fourth quarter, Morgan Park prevailed in the potential state championship preview by the score of 62-56.

More on the game and the rest of the inaugural Steve Pappas Shootout later. Let get right to the photos.