{"id":73525,"date":"2018-11-29T10:55:44","date_gmt":"2018-11-29T16:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=73525"},"modified":"2018-12-10T20:28:19","modified_gmt":"2018-12-11T02:28:19","slug":"an-unlikely-cinderella-loyola-tops-brother-rice-for-8a-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/an-unlikely-cinderella-loyola-tops-brother-rice-for-8a-title\/","title":{"rendered":"An Unlikely Cinderella, Loyola Tops Brother Rice for 8A Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Campbell<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

The last week of the regular season, then 8-0 Brother Rice defeated 8-0 Montini Catholic to be crowned Catholic League Blue Division champions. Given the incredible seasons of both teams (Rice coming off a 2-7 season, Montini making their debut in the conference), it seemed there was no better possible ending to the Catholic League season.<\/p>\n

The Loyola Ramblers had other ideas.<\/p>\n

Having started 3-3, they won their next 11 games capped off by a magical run through the playoffs en route to a 13-3 win over undefeated Brother Rice in the Class 8A State Championship on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium in Champaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the most special seasons of my life, and I\u2019ve been playing football since I was 7 years old,\u201d said Loyola head coach John Holacek following the game.<\/p>\n

As a former University of Illinois and NFL linebacker and winner of the 2015 Class 8A Championship with the Ramblers, that\u2019s quite a statement for Holacek to make.<\/p>\n

Midway through this season, it was as if the two teams\u2019 roles had been reversed. After their worst year in school history, Brother Rice were 6-0 and coming off a 21-14 win against St. Rita. Meanwhile, Loyola, who had been to two of the previous three 8A state title games, sat at 3-3 following a loss at home to upstart Montini Catholic.<\/p>\n

Coach Holacek said that at that point their attitude changed, and that since then it\u2019s like they\u2019re an entirely different team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly grinded it out, they got better every day, every week because of their faith in and commitment to their teammates, the program and the coaches,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Loyola closed out the season with three straight wins to clinch a playoff berth and were given the 19th seed in the 8A bracket. Meanwhile, Brother Rice continued to destroy every team in their path and completed a 9-0 regular season with a Catholic League Blue Division championship.<\/p>\n

Brother Rice weren\u2019t used to being favorites, but through the first four rounds of the playoffs they played like favorites, winning every game by double-digits including a semifinal victory over rival Marist.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Loyola in the playoffs embarked on what the players dubbed \u201cthe revenge tour,\u201d beating undefeated Oswego, one-loss powerhouse Main South, and defending champion Lincoln-Way East, who hadn\u2019t lost since the 2016 quarterfinals and beat the Ramblers 23-13 in the 2017 8A title game. That brought them to the matchup with Brother Rice, the number-one seed led by All-State quarterback John Bean and a stout defense.<\/p>\n