DePaul Prep Wins IHSA 2A Third Place

The Nashville Hornets (28-4) defeated the DePaul Prep Rams (26-6) in double overtime in the IHSA 2A Semi-final in Champaign Thursday afternoon. The Rams rallied to defeat Rockridge Rockets 41-22 in the third-place game.

 The Nashville/DePaul Prep game was a defensive battle of historic proportions. Reputed to be the lowest scoring game in IHSA finals history. It was the Rams lowest point total of the season.

 The Nashville Hornets from far southern Illinois, about fifty-five miles east of St. Louis, play defense. Hornets’ coach Patrick Weathers described their style of basketball as “winning ugly.”

 “[DePaul Prep] executes very differently than a lot of teams in the City. I think that help us. We are not built for a track meet. When they want to keep the game in the thirties and forties, and we don’t have to score fifty or sixty points to win the game that is an advantage for us. It gives us a change. Keep the game close at the end and give ourselves a chance to will at the end, that’s all we can ask for,” Coach Weathers said.

 Nashville’s defense was remarkable. The double overtime game was the equivalent of five eight-minute quarters. The Hornets held the Rams to five points in the final two quarters combined.

 Even more remarkable is that the Hornets five starters played the entire game and two overtime periods. There were no substitutions. The same five players Saxton Hoepker, Kilton Gajewski, Carter Schoenherr, Holan Heggemeier and Isaac Turner played the whole game at a historic defensive level. 

 “It’s obvious. We didn’t shoot well. We didn’t score. We took them out of a lot of things. At the end of the game . . . We didn’t get some loose balls. There were two offensive rebounds we did not come up with. There were just a little quicker to the ball late and they made plays. It was a battle. All the credit goes to Nashville. Really well coached team. Kids really play well together,” DePaul Prep Coach Tom Kleinschmidt said after the game.  

 If there is a good part about losing in a semi-final, it’s that one gets to play in a third-place game with a chance to go out a winner. The DePaul Prep Rams did that in the last state 3A finals in 2019. They lost to Bogan in the semi but won third-place against Peoria Manual.

 This year, the Rams drew Rockridge (26-8) from Taylor Ridge, Illinois, a few miles west of Moline, in the third-place game. Rockridge lost in the first game to Monticello.

 The Rams and Rockets traded buckets in the first quarter but in the second, the Rams edged ahead with points off the bench from Maurice Thomas.

 The third quarter proved the difference. An 8-2 run in the third put the Rams ahead for good as they inexorably extended their lead to a 41 to 24 final score to win third place in the state in state for the second time in three tries.

 Does winning third place take the sting out of losing in the semi?

 “Well, ya. The kids went out winners. [They can say] their last game was a win. We set a school record for wins. For this group to be around for two trips downstate and last year’s number one ranking, that’s a hell of a three years,” Kleinschmidt said.

 Dylan Arnett lead the scoring for the Rams with ten points. Every Ram played. Junior Maurice Thomas had 7. Sophomores starters Payton Kamin and Jaylan McElroy each had 6. Senior Will Brown had 5, including a big three early to open the scoring for the Rams. Henry West had 3 points. Seniors Julian Green Trevon Thomas had 2 each.

 Only three months until the Riverside-Brookfield Summer Tournament.

DePaul Prep Rams Handle St. Francis de Sales 63-11

When I was a kid in the ‘70’s, St. Francis de Sales had one of the best football teams in the state. I remember going to Elk Grove High School to see them play St. Viator in one of the first IHSA playoff games. As I recall, the Pioneers beat the crap out of our beloved Lions. And that was no ordinary Lions team. They were good. The Lions won the ESCC in football every year when I was a kid.

Today, I am here in the Tom Winiecki Gym at Gordon Tech campus of DePaul Prep. The St. Francis de Sales sophomore team has 6 players.

It makes me kind of sad, but I understand that Catholic schools change with their communities. Hegewich of 1975 isn’t what it is today. For that matter, the 33rd Ward isn’t what it was in 1975.

I have learned over the years that Chicago Catholic League teams treat each other with respect (except for the Brother Rice football team and it current and thankfully outgoing coach, but that’s a whole other story).

I am glad St. Francis de Sales is here. Even though I was raised in the ESCC, I am a CCL guy. My dad was a graduate of St. Phillip, a long ago closed Catholic high school in Garfield Park. There was no high school at St. Benedict in the 1940’s. Even though he lived at Irving and Oakley, his widowed mother sent him to St. Phillip far away on the West Side so he could get a Catholic education. My dad taught me to love the Catholic League. I developed a healthy dislike for some of the fancy schools.

I don’t dislike the fancy schools anymore. I, myself, am Jesuit educated at the university level, but I still want to beat the crap out of their CCL schools.

I covered the DePaul Prep v. St. Francis de Sales game and not some other games today, like Lane at Lincoln Park, that I could have, and ought to have—the Jesuits taught me the importance of the word, “ought”) so I could get some shots of DePaul Prep players that don’t play much.

I’m glad I did. The young men at St. Francis de Sales should also have their effort recorded. No matter what else happens in their lives, they can always say, I played varsity basketball in the Chicago Catholic League.

I told that to my son some years ago. He rolled his eyes. But I suspect he will take some pride in years to come for having played varsity football and basketball in the Chicago Catholic League.