St. Patrick Wins Opener 70-28 over Dyett

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT BY JOHN MONTGOMERY 

If the Shamrocks basketball team is to make back-to-back trips to State Farm Center in Champaign they will need a healthy R.J. McPartlin. McPartlin, a 6’7’ senior, might be one of the best basketball players fans and coaches have seen the last two years if weren’t for injuries. McPartlin has been on the varsity basketball team since freshman year but unfortunately has been plagued by the injury bug.

“He started freshman year for us and scored ten points in his first game,” St. Patrick head basketball coach Mike Bailey said. “His career has taken off for us from there. He is one of our most important players. Unfortunately, he has been hurt the last two years. He is tough kid always willing to play through injuries.”

“I am worried about getting hurt again,” McPartlin admitted. “It feels great to be out there again. Its the best feeling in the world. I love to get on the court and play.”

McPartlin began his senior season by scoring 10 points in the season opening win over defending Class 2A champion Dyett, 70-28. Gael Guitterez added 13 points while Maurice Neeley contributed with 13 points as well. Omar Ajanovic who filled in for McPartlin as a sophomore scored 12 points on Monday night.

Charles Treadwell led Eagles with 11 points as Dyett couldn't solve St Patrick’s matchup zone falling behind 20-6 to start the season and never recovered. Shamrocks led 46-11 at the half as game finished with running clock while Bailey emptied his bench for final quarter.

“It was a good start tonight,” Bailey said after watching his defense allow only ten baskets.

“That was amazing defense,” McPartlin said after the win on opening night.

Naperville North began the night on Kurland Court by beating Payton 58-45 as guard Miles Okyne score 28 poihts.

Last year, McPartlin overcame a torn labrum in his shoulder after suffering broken nose as a sophomore. McPartlin played in 20 contests last season and averaged eight points a game to help the Shamrocks advance to state basketball finals for first time in school history.

McPartlin is the only starter back from a 29-win team that finished third in Class 3A tournament last season after losing 48-33 to Brother Rice (31-7) in semifinals.

“This team knows how to win,” Bailey said during preseason practices. “This team expects to win. They are very motivated to get back downstate.”

The Shamrocks were disappointed they didn't advance to championship game against DePaul Prep (33-4) and coach Tom Kleinschmidt who are seeking to win the state basketball title for fourth straight season.

“It was heartbreaking to not play for state championship,” McPartlin stated after season opening win on Monday night. “We played a bad fourth quarter against Brother Rice. Getting third place in the state means a lot to us. Only eight teams in the state get to finish the season with a win. We had a special group of guys. I couldn't end the season on a loss.”

St. Pat's shook off the disappointment of losing by beating Chatham Glenwood 50-28 in tilt for third place.

The Rams are trying to become the first high school basketball team in Illinois since Simeon and Peoria Manual to win four straight banners. Kleinschmidt’s club began its season on Monday night in the Battle of Bridges tournament at Lane with a 69-50 win over Niles North.

The Shamrocks will play Payton and Naperville North before finishing play in Kurland tournament on Saturday night.

Bailey will count on four new starters including Ajanovic, Neeley, football player Joey Costanzo, and junior Steve Quach.

Players and coaches claim they don't care or pay attention to rankings. Despite its recent success with back-to-back appearances in the Elite Eight and over 1,000 wins since 1959 with Bailey and Max Kurland, the Shamrocks surprisingly will start season unranked.

“The coaching staff told us not to worry about the rankings,” McPartlin said.
”We finished third in the state in 3A. We deserve to be ranked based on how we finished last year.”

St. Pat's is hoping to at least advance for a third straight basketball season to the Elite Eight.

Bailey Begins 32nd Season at St. Patrick

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT BY JOHN MONTGOMERY

Mike Bailey is a self-described gym rat at 71 years old who loves the game of basketball. He is addicted to watching basketball games and practices. Bailey also enjoys everything that takes place off the court, like recruiting and game planning and summer basketball. Most of all, he loves teaching the game to his players during practice sessions. And he has no intention of doing anything else.

“I am not retiring at the end of the season,” Bailey said, putting an end to rumors to the contrary. “I’m just getting started.”

“Mike Bailey has all the qualities that you are looking for in a head coach,” said former Weber and Elgin basketball coach Jim Harrington, who had Bailey on his staff at both schools. “He is hard working, loyal and dedicated. Whether Mike is young or old, he is always trying to get better as a head coach.”

Bailey, who began his hjgh school coaching career with Harrington at Weber in 1979, will begin his 32nd year as head coach at St. Patrick in the Shamrocks’ annual Thanksgiving tournament. He has won 583 games at the school on West Belmont and one of his goals is to surpass the record of 658 victories established by his predecessor, the legendary Max Kurland.

“I just keep going,” said Bailey, who recently underwent hip replacement surgery. “As long as I have energy, enthusiasm and health, I will keep coaching. I don’t think I would have retired if I had won a state championship last year. A lot of people ask me that question. Honestly, if we had won, I wanted to come back and coach this group of kids because I had promised them and their parents that I would be their coach. I think that I am a better and more prepared basketball coach now at this stage of my life.”

Last season, Bailey guided St. Patrick to 29 victories and third place in the Class 3A tournament. The Shamrocks lost to Brother Rice in the semifinals, then came back to rout Chatham Glenwood for third place.

“It was probably the most proud I have ever been of any team I have coached, to come back and win third place after losing 24 hours earlier,” he said.

Twelve players return from that 29-8 squad, including starter RJ McPartlin. The Shamrocks will begin their quest for a return trip to Champaign on Monday, November 24, against Chicago Public League power Dyett, the defending Class 2A champion.

“This team knows how to win basketball games,” Bailey said. “It expects to win. They are very motivated to get back Downstate.”

The road back to Champaign won’t be easy. It became more difficult when the Illinois High School Association placed St. Patrick in Class 4A with defending champion Benet and neighborhood rival DePaul Prep, last year’s Class 3A champion, which also has been moved up into Class 4A tournament. St. Patrick might have to beat both schools to reach the championship game.

Meanwhile, Bailey has been proud to follow in Kurland’s footsteps. Kurland built the Shamrocks into one of the state’s most successful programs at St. Patrick playing his signature 1-3-1 zone defense. St Pat's always fell short in conference play, finishing second to coach Gene Pingatore’s St. Joseph teams. The one thing that Kurland couldn’t do was advance to the state quarterfinals and gain ticket play to at Assembly Hall in Champaign. Kurland retired in 1994 after losing to Lyons Township in the York sectional championship.

“It was an honor to be chosen to replace Max Kurland at St. Patrick,” Bailey said. “Max was very nice to me when I came to St. Patrick. I didn’t replace him. I followed him.”

Bailey has a different philosophy playing strictly man-to-man defense.

“Max Kurland was one of the greatest guys in the coaching profession. He had a heart of gold,” Harrington said.

Bailey, a graduate of Gordon and DePaul University, joined Weber in 1979 as Harrington’s sophomore coach. He was head coach at St. Gregory in 1984-1986, then head coach at Dundee-Crown in 1986-1990. Then he went to Elgin to assist Harrington in 1990-94. In 1992, when Steve Pappas left Gordon to become head coach at Deerfield, Bailey applied for the job.  Rich Kolimas was hired to replace Pappas. When Kurland retired in 1994, he brought his expertise to St. Patrick.

After losing four times in the supersectional round before finishing third in the Class 3A tournament last season, marking the first time that the Shamrocks have qualified for the Final Four. The achievement isn’t lost on Bailey or his staff. Why retire when you still have goals to accomplish?

“It means the world to advance to the state finals for the first time in school history,” he said.

Basketball is a family affair in the Bailey household. Mike’s daughter Kelly is the official scorer for the Chicago Bulls while son Brandon is an assistant coach for DePaul’s men’s basketball team after spending time with the Boston Celtics in the NBA.

After the upcoming Thanksgiving tournament, St. Patrick will open its regular conference season in a televised matchup against Notre Dame of Niles. This is the last season of the ESCC in basketball. The Chicago Catholic League has merged with the East Suburban Catholic. Next season, St. Patrick will join Marist, Benet, DePaul Prep, St. Ignatius, Mount Carmel, Loyola, Brother Rice and Fenwick in a new and very competitive conference featuring three divisions.

Mike Bailey can’t wait to be a part of it.

Catron Leads Shamrocks Past Rams

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT BY JOHN MONTGOMERY

In a projected duel between two young and talented quarterbacks, the brightest star was senior running back Anthony Catron. He rushed 29 times for 241 yards and two touchdowns leading St. Patrick (3-1) past neighborhood rival DePaul Prep 31-28 in the Chicago Catholic League Purple Division opener for both teams.

Catron battered the Rams’ defense but he was bruised himself, suffering a leg injury in the fourth quarter. He was standing on the sideline when teammate Jayden Miranda scored the game-winning touchdown with 44 seconds to play.

“I am fine,” Catron said after the game. “How can I be frustrated? We won the game.”

Miranda has also played well scoring five touchdowns this season on only 31 carries.

“Our kids have heart and they are tough,” St. Patrick coach Tom Zbikowski said after the emotional victory over the defending Class 4A champion. “I am almost speechless.”

DePaul Prep coach Mike Passarella wasn’t speechless. 

“We need to learn how to finish games,” he said.

The atmosphere was electric at Triton College in River Grove. St. Patrick was celebrating homecoming.

The Shamrocks are three victories from qualifying for the state playoff for only the second time in 12 years. The game was physical and intense with 20 penalties being meted out by the officiating crew.

The Shamrocks overcame 10 penalties by amassing 503 yards in total offense while allowing 387. They rushed for 321 yards while junior quarterback Gavin Gardiner, who passed for five touchdowns in the first three games, completed 15 of 26 passes for 182 yards. They punted only three times and stopped DePaul Prep on three possessions in the fourth quarter.

“Anthony (Catron) and Jayden (Miranda) played awesome,” Gardiner said. “Our offensive line played well. They did their job. They had very few missed assignments.”

What a difference a year makes. In 2024, St. Patrick was 2-7 without Catron, who suffered a broken leg. He watched from the sideline as DePaul crushed the Shamrocks 41-0 and went on to post an 11-3 record while winning a state championship in Class 4A.

In this matchup, DePaul junior quarterback Jackson Grabinski opened eyes. After misfiring on his first four passing attempts, he went on to complete 12 of his next 18 for 252 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown toss to Tyson Hicks. A sophomore, Hicks also demonstrated he could be a future star by catching eight passes for 135 yards and rushing for 40 yards.

“I thought Jackson did a great job tonight,” Passarella said. “The kid is really special.”

Meanwhile, Catron praised his own quarterback.

“I think (Gavin) can be All-State this year,” he said. “He is a great player. He is a great leader.”

Ultimately, DePaul Prep couldn’t stop Catron. He negotiated an interesting path to his big night. After missing most of last season with a broken leg, he had only 22 carries in St. Patrick’s first three games while Gardiner threw 65 passes. Catron powered for 144 yards in the first half against DePaul Prep while Gardiner completed 10 passes for 105 yards. Despite the heroics, however, St. Patrick trailed 21-14 at halftime.

“We weren’t frustrated,” Gardiner said. “We knew what we were going to do. We knew with our offensive line we could move the ball against that defense.”

A quarterback’s best friend is a good running game and a solid offensive line. In the second half, St. Patrick proved it. In four games, the Shamrocks haven’t allowed a sack while rushing for 603 yards, thanks to the solid play of senior linemen Joe Chase, Eli Valencia and Connor Malenok.

“We believe in our offensive line,” Zbikowski said. “We believe in our running game.”

“It (stunk) being hurt last year,” said Catron, who played in only two games. “It is amazing to be playing again. It’s the greatest feeling in the world.”

After being denied twice inside the 10-yard-line and Gardiner throwing his second interception of the season, St. Patrick trailed 28-21 at the outset of the fourth quarter. Miranda scored his fifth touchdown of the season on an eight-yard run with 44 seconds remaining to put the Shamrocks ahead. Grabinski drove the Rams 49 yards to give Emmett McCue a chance to tie but he missed a 31-yard field goal attempt with two seconds to play.

Things won’t get any easier for either team. St. Patrick will play at unbeaten and third-ranked Brother Rice (4-0) on Friday night while DePaul Prep (1-3) has a date against defending Class 8A champion Loyola(2-1).

Catron remains optimistic. “We want to make the state playoffs this year. Our main goal is to win the state championship,” he said.

DePaul Prep Slugs St. Ignatius 10-3

[a preview of next week’s Inside—Booster article.]

By Jack Lydon

Chicago, Illinois—It was a game of big hits. DePaul Prep’s junior right fielder Quinn Roberts put two into the parking lot east of Kerry Wood Cubs Field. The Rams had a total six extra base hits and dropped the St. Ignatius Wolfpack 10-3 Thursday evening. St. Ignatius’ Cam Andrews also put one over the left field fence for two runs in the top of the sixth.

The dimensions are just a little shorter than Wrigley Field at Kerry Wood Cubs Field. 363 feet in the outfield gaps and 327 down the lines.

“That's my first two home run game ever actually. That’s a good milestone right there. It's pretty fun hitting them at Kerry Wood. It's pretty deep out there,” said Roberts, who ended the game with two home runs, two walks and three runs batted in.

“So that second one of the game was my fourth of the year actually. I hit one at Providence two days ago. I just try and do my best. I try to swing hard enough, but not too hard to where it makes the coach totally angry. I just try to put them in play and see what happens from there.” Roberts ended the game with two home runs, two walks and three runs batted in.

“Quinn is gonna be great. He's playing well. He had to kick in last year as a sophomore when we got hurt. We're really experienced, even the juniors, even the younger guys. They’re experienced. They had to dig and fight in these Catholic League Blue games last year. So they know what this is about and I think it shows,” said Sam Colon, DePaul Prep’s manager, a 2014 graduate of Gordon Tech. Colon took over as head baseball coach for DePaul Prep from legendary Gordon and DePaul Prep coach Chris Haas in 2023. Colon took the Rams to the 2A State Finals in his first year at the helm and a super-sectional game last year.

Although the game ended 10-3, it started a little rough for DePaul Prep’s senior lefthander Owen Rog. Rog walked the first three batters of the game. Not to worry. He struck out the Wolfpack’s Jaiden Ponce swinging and the next hitter Ben Marasovich dutifully bounced into a 6-4-3 double play to end the innings and get Rog out of the jam.

Even with all the extra base hits, it was defense and solid pitching that secured the Rams first Chicago Catholic League Blue Division win of the season. Despite the gaudy 19-4 season record for the Rams, all four of their losses this season have come to CCL Blue rivals Brother Rice and Providence Catholic. The Catholic League is loaded with excellent baseball teams this year. Brother Rice and St. Laurence are the first and fourth ranked teams in the state by Max Preps.

The Rams turned three double plays in the game. In addition to the one in the first inning, first baseman Dylan Hecht fielded a sharp ground ball right to him, through it to shortstop Vance Kurokawa at second to fired it back to Hecht for the bang-bang 3-6-3 inning ending double play in the third.

In the top of the fifth, with a man on first, Rams’ third baseman Charles “Chuck” Pribyl fielded a ground ball, throw to second baseman Beni Espinosa who fired it down to Hecht at first for the third double play of the game.

Owen Rog pitched three innings giving up three hits and one run on four walks and three strikeouts. He was relieved by Gavin Glibowski in the fourth who finished the game giving up four hits and two runs on the aforementioned homerun by Cam Andrews. Glibowski did not walk anyone and struck out six.

The Rams continue with their difficult Catholic League schedule with another game against St. Ignatius, then IC Catholic and Mount Carmel in coming days.

DePaul Prep Wins Third Straight State Championship

[preview of my Inside—Booster story for this week.]

By Jack Lydon

CHAMPAIGN, IL—The toughness and heart of DePaul Prep cannot be overstated. Down by nine with under six minutes to play, the Rams rallied to defeat Brother Rice 55-52 in double overtime to win their third straight state championship. This was a heavy weight boxing match between fighters that know each other well.

The game was practically a mirror image of their first meeting in January when the Brother Rice Crusaders (31-6) defeated DePaul Prep 53-52 after grabbing an early lead. The Crusaders survived a late comeback by the Rams, but just barely.

That would not happen again. With the weight of two state champions pressing down and behind 33-24 with 5:42 to play, the Rams had to dig deep. Senior leader Makai Kvamme, a veteran of the two preceding state championships, stepped up big time.

Makai was struggling. He had not scored in the game to that point. Despite getting good looks, his shots were just not falling.

At 5:42, Makai get a layup, his first points of the game. He would score 9 more in the fourth. It wasn’t just Kvamme. Porter had a bucket. With the Rams trailing 40-37 and 43 seconds on the clock, Junior guard and transfer into DePaul Rykan Woo, who was not on the prior championship teams, surely had the biggest free throw shots of his life. He made the first. He made the second. He made the third. Scored tied, going to overtime.

It would take two overtimes but the Rams would close out the win with big buckets by AJ Chambers, Rob Walls, Rashaun Porter and five more from Kvamme in the second overtime.

“That was a fist fight of heavy weights. All great whistles. They let us play. Points were at a premium. Things got loose a little in the second half,” said Rams coach Tom Kleinschmit.

“These seniors that are up here have been on the varsity for three years. They are 70 and 5 in two years. The culture was built on the guys before them,” Kleinschmidt added.

“We knew that we had experience. We wanted to use that experience to the best of our ability. We stayed poised, stayed relaxed and started pressuring them to make them turn it over. We got that result,” said junior center Rashaun Porter.

“When we took the program over [in 2013], we had two goals: win the [Chicago Catholic] League and win the state championship. We hadn’t won a league game in five years and people looked at us like ‘ya, whatever.’ We attained one of the goals and won the League. Now we’ve won a championship,” said Kleinschmidt.

It’s three championships now actually. The Rams defeated Bloomington Central Catholic 65-41 in 2023 to win 2A. Last year they defeated Chicago Catholic League rival Mount Carmel 49-41 to win their second state championship in a row, that time in 3A. It will have to be said that the DePaul Prep Rams have entered the rarified air of multiple consecutive championships in IHSA history.   

“We are a defensive culture team that can score now. We talked about leaning on our experience. We certainly did that tonight,” concluded Coach Kleinschmidt.

Seventh ranked Brother Rice Crusaders were as tough a team as the Rams faced all year. And the Rams played a tremendously difficult schedule. Brother Rice has put together an impressive string of their own with three consecutive 30-win seasons. It was their first appearance in the State Tournament since 2005.

Chicago Catholic League Lawless Player of the Year, Crusaders senior guard Marcos Gonzales lead all scorers in the game with 24 points. Senior forward K. J. Morris had 11 points for Brother Rice. Senior guard Jack Weigus added 10 points.

It was a total team effort for the Rams, offensively as well as defensively. Kvamme lead the team with 16 points, all coming in the fourth quarter and the overtime periods. Rashaun Porter added 14 despite suffering injured fingers. Rob Walls and Rykan Woo had 7 each. AJ Chambers had 5. Jonas Johnson and Gus Donohue each added a three-pointer. The Rams had 10 steals and only 9 turnovers.

Blog Posts and DePaul Prep's 3A Semi-final Opponent Glenwood

By Jack Lydon

I think I am finding my voice when it comes to blog posts. The blog on my website usually just contains galleries of photos from games and events I cover with some explanation. I also post my news articles that appear in the Inside—Booster.

Starting tomorrow, I am going to post news related items from the IHSA boys basketball playoffs that the U. of I. State Farm Center in Champaign in more of a first person blog format. I hope to do it in as close to real time as I can for games that I am not photographing. Tomorrow are the 1A, 2A and 3A semi-finals.

We have six Chicago area teams in playing tomorrow: Chicago Hope, Christ the King, Dyett, Brother Rice, DePaul Prep and St. Patrick. So I will post what I can as I watch the games. But I will probably be photographing the 3A games with just the usually Twitter/X score updates.

Here is some stuff DePaul Prep’s opponent, Glenwood. The Rams take on Glenwood in tomorrow’s 3A sem-final starting at 8:15 p.m.

The Glenwood Titan (24-9), with an enrollment listed by the IHSA as 1,466, are from the Central State Eight conference where they finished fourth behind MacArthur (3A in Decatur), Springfield (3A) and Lanphier (3A from Springfield). All of those schools were in the same sectional that the #3 seed Glenwood won.

The Glenwood starters are senior guard Cameron Appenzeller, senior guard Gavin Simmons, junior forward Jack Kurman, senior forward Mason Neumann and senior forward Jonathon Helm.

Glenwood’s leader scorer is Appenzeller followed closely by Helm. Based upon the games played, it looks like their starters get almost all of the playing time with the only bench player getting significant playing time being junior guard Brody Green.

Knowledgeable high school basketball commentator Big Tim Shabazz suggests in his blog that Glenwood’s size could give DePaul Prep some trouble. Check that out at Big Tim’s blog. Click here to read it.

Michael O’Brien reported this afternoon in the “No Shot Clock” podcast that the Glenwood’s Cameron Appenzeller is a 6’5” lefty pitcher who might be a first-round draft pick in the Major League Baseball draft. So that’s something. Must be quite an athlete.

Appenzeller does not show up in the PrepHoops.com rankings of Class 2025 basketball players. I am guessing that is because he probably plays baseball and not club basketball in the off-season, so he is not on that radar.

Chatham (Glenwood) team photo as appears on the IHSA website.

DePaul Prep Dismantles Fenwick 52-22, Wins Chicago Catholic League

[Preview of my story in this week’s Inside—Booster.]

By Jack Lydon

The DePaul Prep Rams (26-3, 7-1) dismantled Fenwick 52-22 to win the Chicago Catholic League at DePaul Friday night. Absolute shutdown defense held the Friars to thirteen points into the fourth quarter. This is an exceptional Friars squad with that only had three losses in the Catholic League coming into the game. A Fenwick victory in this game was entirely impossible.

The Rams came into the game with a 6-1 record in the Chicago Catholic Leagues Blue Division tied with Brother Rice. A win for the Rams assured them of at least a share of the conference title. Shortly after the game ended word spread that Mount Carmel defeated Brother Rice making DePaul Prep outright CCL champs for the second year in a row.

The Rams hit a little rough patch at the end of January suffering back-to-back losses first to Brother Rice and then to Homewood-Flossmoor at the end of January—if you can call it a rough patch to lose consecutive games to the No. 8 team and the No. 3 team respectively when you have a 26-3 record. Let’s call it a little bump.

The Rams opened the game strong. Senior guard Rob Walls dropped a short jumper from the lane on DePaul’s opening possession. It was a good omen given the Rams first quarter struggles in the home loss to Brother Rice two weeks earlier. Then the defensive show started. Fenwick struggled to even shoot the ball. Drives into the lane quickly lead to passes out to the wing. The outlet passes lead to off-balance missed shots and DePaul Prep rebounds. Few if any offensive rebound for the Friars.

The Rams built their typical 15-6 first quarter lead spreading the ball around with buckets from all five starters and two each from junior guard Rykan Woo and senior point guard Makai Kvamme.

In the second quarter, the Rams held Fenwick to three points. They made just one basket, a three-pointer from senior Kamren Hogan. The Friars’ frustration was palpable with a halftime score of 29-9 DePaul.

“They couldn’t get by us. We made them take jump shots. We got every rebound. We can play,” DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt said of his Rams’ defensive effort.

“I think our switching bothers teams. Our guards really kept the ball in front of us. We were disciplined tonight. We made them take jump shots.”

Rams junior center Rashaun Porter put on a masterful defensive performance that stood out among masterful defensive performance. Porter was matched up against Fenwick standout forward Nathaniel Marshall. Marshall is one of the best football players in the state who has gained attention for his basketball skills in recent months.

“Shaun’s a big body. He’s long and he is strong. He didn’t bite on head fakes or pump fakes. He kept [Marshall] in front of him. He did a nice job,” Kleinschmidt said of Porter.

It didn’t get much better for Fenwick in the second half. The Friars managed only another four points in the third quarter falling behind 41-13. Even so, there was no quit in Fenwick, their own defensive effort made the Rams work for their points. Rykan Woo finished with sixteen points in a little more than three quarters. AJ Chambers had twelve. Makai Kvamme had eight. Rashaun Porter had seven.

The regular season is drawing to a close with one regular season game left, a home matchup against East Suburban Catholic Conference champion Benet Academy next Friday at DePaul’s Tom Winiecki Gym.

DePaul Prep landed the #1 seed in the IHSA 3A Antioch Sectional. The Rams will host the winner of Lake View v. North Chicago on February 26th to open the playoffs. The Rams look to “threepeat” as state champions. Two years ago the Rams won the 2A state championship and won the 3A state championship last year with win over Chicago Catholic League rival Mount Carmel in the championship game.

DePaul Prep Beats St. Ignatius 60-58 in OT

[Preview of this week’s item in Inside—Booster.]

[Full photo gallery to follow.]

By Jack Lydon

I got there over an hour early and the parking lot was already totally full. Friday’s DePaul Prep v. St. Ignatius game at DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym would be different. Well not so much different as amplified. Bigger, stronger, faster.

And so it was. The DePaul Prep Rams (24-3, 5-1) defeated the St. Ignatius Wolfpack 60-58 in overtime to advance toward another Chicago Catholic League title and prove they can come from behind and win when it matters.

This was a high-level high school basketball game played by very talented players and coaches on both sides. Few turnovers, multiple dunks and three-pointers, defense and offence. The largest lead of the game by either team was a six-points.

The Tom Kleinschmidt formula win goes like this: an early lead, a dominant third quarter that builds a 15 to 20 point lead and then kill the clock in the fourth. That wasn’t happening in this game. St. Ignatius’ coach Matt Monroe knows that scenario. The Wolfpack didn’t get far behind and flipped the script by outscoring the Rams and taking a lead in the third quarter.

“They're obviously one of the best defensive programs around. They're switching defense causes teams fits. So we were hoping to put them in more scramble situations. We are hoping to do a few of our attacking switch techniques, like slipping with a couple of things we call twist and turn,” said St. Ignatius coach Matt Monroe.

Monroe’s plan worked. It didn’t look good for the Rams at the 5:48 mark in the fourth when Phoenix Gill, St. Ignatius’ senior point guard, Northwestern commit and son of a former NBA player, Kendall Gill, drained a three to give the Wolfpack a 48-42 lead.

After a time out, the Rams chipped away and chipped away. A couple buckets from Rykan Woo and AJ Chambers but the relentless defense lead by Rob Walls and Makai Kvamme led to turnovers which turned into clutch layups by Kvamme to tie the game.

St. Ignatius had a chance to win at the end of regulation. After a time out and with a few seconds left on the clock, Phoenix Gill took the inbounds pass. With DePaul Prep’s Rob Walls guarding him at the top of the key, Gill worked the ball to the right but had dish the ball off to junior guard Napolean Harris IV, who put up a three-pointer that missed.

Overtime. DePaul’s junior center Rashaun Porter dropped a bucket. Junior guard Rykan Woo added a free throw. St. Ignatius senior guard Ryan Cavanagh drained a three to tie the game with 46.9 left in OT.

The Rams had the ball with time winding down. Porter drove to the hoop and was fouled. He drained two free throws with three seconds left to give the Rams a 60-58 lead and the victory.  

“We’ve got grit. We showed some toughness. [If something bad happens, it’s] on to the next play. A lot of teams or individuals would have hung their heads and quit. We didn’t. We believe in each other. We came out and made some plays,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt of his Rams.

Porter was jubilant after the game, “This is the Catholic league, and this is a really tough league, one of the best leagues in the Midwest. And we want to win it. . . . Our goal is to win the Catholic League. . . . So we really wanted this one.”

Kleinschmidt mentioned rivalry after the game, “It's a rivalry. It’s only a rivalry if both teams win. We won a couple in a row now, but for a while there, they won a couple in a row.” Kleinschmidt is 8-5 against St. Ignatius in his last eleven seasons as DePaul Prep and Gordon Tech head coach, including a particularly heartbreaking loss at the buzzer in a sectional final game in 2020, two days before the whole world shut down with the COVID pandemic.

Conference play is not quite over. DePaul Prep is tied with Brother Rice each having one loss. The Rams have two conference games left: DeLaSalle and Fenwick. Brother Rice has Mount Carmel left. The Rams control their own fate. If both DePaul Prep and Fenwick win out, they share the CCL title. If the Rams win and the Crusaders lose, the Rams win it out right—Chicago Catholic League champions for the second year in a row.

DePaul Prep’s senior point guard Makai Kvamme after a dunk in the first quarter against St. Ignatius

DePaul Prep Falls to Brother Rice 53-52

DePaul Prep Defeats Vashon 68-54 at H-F MLK Shootout

The DePaul Prep Rams (19-1, 3-0) defeated the Vashon Wolverines 68-54 this afternoon at the Homewood-Flossmoor MLK Day Shootout. Vashon, a public high school in St. Louis, (12-2) has been Missouri state champions for the last four years. They came into the game with DePaul Prep 11-1. I guess I didn’t know what to expect. As with the first game this year playing an out-of-state team, Mater Dei from Los Angeles at the Chicago Elite Classic, I was just hoping the Rams would play well and not get blown out.

I underestimated the Rams then. I ought to have known better today.

Vashon looked, to me at least, like the best team that the Rams had played all season. The Wolverines were big. They had a size advantage on the Rams on every position except for center where Lashaun Porter had an advantage on Terron Garrett who was listed in the program as a wing.

When the game started, the Wolverines were shooting well, defending furiously and rebounding on both ends.

Midway through the first quarter, the Rams had a nine point lead that Vashon cut to four by the end of the first. They Rams were playing well on defense and dealing with the pressure defense of Vashon about as well has a team could. The Rams were playing about as well as I have seen them play, especially on defense. It was two good teams battling it out. Rykan Woo had nine points in the first. The Rams held a 22-18 lead at the end of the first quarter and maintained that four point advantage at the half, 33-29.

The Rams shined in the third quarter outscoring the Wolverines 15-4. And they never looked back. The full court press that Vashon jumped into only made things worse. The Rams broke the press and ended in layups and back door dunks.

It was as impressive of a game as I have have seen the Rams play. Just so much toughness. Toughness demostrated in no small measure by the elbow inflicted gash that AJ Chambers suffered late in the second quarter. There was an extended time stoppage while the Homewood-Flossmoor janitorial staff mopped the blood off the court. Chambers wasn’t out of the game long. They quickly patched him up and he was back in the game wearing the number 21 jersey at that point.

Junior guard Rykan Woo had 18 points. Junior center Rashaun Porter had 16 points and the player of the game trophy. Senior point guard Makai Kvamme had 15 points. Let’s not forget the 4 points added by Rob Walls whose defense is worth three time as many points as he scores. Jonas Johnson came off the bench and added 7 points. AJ Chamber added 6 points, at least I think he did when I add up the scores of numbers 3 and 21. Gus Donohue added a bucket.

Maybe I am too close seeing too many DePaul Prep games. I can’t really judge how good they are. Let’s just say they are No. 1 and only getting better. IC Prep away on Tuesday and then Brother Rice at home on Friday night.

DePaul Prep Survives Mount Carmel 66-63

[Preview of this week’s article in the Inside—Booster]

By Jack Lydon

“We don’t have any rivals.”

Not sure that he meant it the way it came across, but that’s what DePaul Prep’s Rykan Woo said when asked about Mount Carmel after his new team, the DePaul Prep Rams (18-1, 3-0) survived a late challenge to defeat the Caravan 66-63 at Mount Carmel Friday evening.

Woo may not appreciate the rivalry, this being his first year on the Rams, but DePaul Prep’s rivalry with Mount Carmel is very real. The DePaul Prep has played and defeated Mount Carmel three times in the last twelve months. The Rams defeated the Caravan last February 41-38 to win the Chicago Catholic League and then again a month later to win the 3A state championship over Mount Carmel 49-41. There is also the looming possibility of a fourth meeting in this year’s 3A playoffs. The way the sectional assignments line up, if both teams advance they could meet again in March in a state final or semi-final.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” said Mount Carmel head coach Phil Segroves when asked about losing three times to DePaul Prep in the last year.

“We feel we’ve got something pretty special here and we know they do too. We’re gonna just keep knocking on the door.”

The game opened with the DePaul’s defense taking Mount Carmel out of what they wanted to do. The defensive engine for the Rams runs on senior guard and defensive specialist Rob Walls. Walls took a large hand in shutting down Mount Carmel’s star point guard Noah Mister Friday night. In one sequence midway through the second quarter, Walls tied up Mister and stole the ball. A quick pass by Walls to Rams’ point guard Makai Kvamme lead to a layup and the Rams opened an eight point lead.

“Usually, you’ll see me take a charge out there and all the sudden you’ll see all of us getting excited. That just gets us going. It’s fun being out there. Playing with competitors, it’s fun,” said Walls.

The Rams defense set the tone, but junior guard and Whitney Young transfer Rykan Woo and junior center Rashaun Porter scored the points. Woo lead the Rams with 28 points, including three three-pointers and thirteen free throws.

“We know that Rykan Woo is a very good player. Even though Makai Kvamme runs the show at point, [DePaul’s] offense goes through Woo,” Segroves said.

“He’s their scorer. We knew that. We did our very best to defend him. He still came out on top. Sometimes you have to tip your cap.”

 “I think it’s just repetition and practice. Just trying to not let my mind mess around with me,” Woo said of his hitting 10 of 12 free throws in the game.

“My teammates do a great job setting me up all the time. I give them a lot of the credit.”

In addition to Woo’s twenty-five points, Ram’s junior center Rashaun Porter had sixteen points including two big free throws in the closing seconds to seal the victory.

Despite the defensive efforts of Walls and the scoring efficiency of Woo and Porter, the Caravan came roaring back in the closing minutes. Let by senior guard Grant Best with twenty-three points, Mount Carmel came back from a thirteen-point Rams lead early in the third quarter to make it a one possession game in the closing seconds.

The Rams improve their record to 18-1 with their only loss coming in the fourth game of the season to then #1 ranked Kenwood and then only by two-points on the last possession of the game.

The Catholic League is also coming into focus. Mount Carmel now has two losses, one earlier in the year to Fenwick and one tonight to DePaul Prep. Brother Rice suffered a Catholic League loss on Friday to St. Ignatius. Only DePaul Prep and Fenwick are undefeated in the Chicago Catholic League’s Blue division. The Rams will face the Friars on February 14th but there are plenty of league games for both teams between then and now. Still a lot of basketball yet to play.

For now at least, the DePaul Prep Rams are likely to retain their number #1 ranking this week and sit atop the Chicago Catholic League just short of two-thirds of the way through the season.

Lincoln Park Handles Lane Tech 62-46

[Preview of this week’s story in the Inside—Booster.]

By Jack Lydon

Lincoln Park hosted Lane Tech (9-9, 4-3) Thursday for a key game in the Chicago Public League’s Red Shield conference. Basically, the championship of the Northside. The Lions (15-1, 6-1) handled the Champions winning 62-46.

Some might have thought that with Lincoln Park ranked #11 and having a gaudy win/loss record, it would be all Lions. But Lane Tech has played have played top competition this season. Very top competition: #1 DePaul Prep, #2 Kenwood, #6 Brother Rice, #12 Curie, #13 Niles North—twice, formerly ranked St. Ignatius as well as top out-of-state competition at a Washington DC shootout. And the Champions just knocked off #19 Whitney Young on Tuesday. The Champions are much, much better than their record indicates.

With the size and length that the Champions possess, their ability in recent games to hit three-pointers and playing on Lincoln Park’s small home court, this thing could have gone either way.

It went Lincoln Park’s way, and it started early. The Lions jumped out to an 8-0 first quarter lead. The Lions were amped up and playing tough inside and out. Hitting shots and grabbing boards on both ends.

“[Our] guys they came in with a lot of fight,” Lincoln Park head coach Joshua Anderson said of his Lions.

“They executed. They were mentally locked in. They played harder. They played tougher. They played technique. They boxed out. They did exactly what I told them to do. I told them the shots what would be open. That’s just all from our execution.”

Lane rallied and made it game. Lane’s Zach Mazanowski quickly added five points late in the first quarter bringing them right back. Even so, the Lions would maintain a six to ten-point lead throughout most of the rest of the game.

The Lions gave no quarter to the size and length possessed by the Champions. Lions’ center Keyshawn Barfield battled the Champions’ division one prospect center Dalton Scantlebury the whole game.

The Lions turned off Lane’s usually productive three-point shooter. The Champions managed only one three-point field goal in the gameThe Lincoln Park gym is a unique place for top-level high school basketball game. It’s small. Very small. Three rows of seats on each side and none along the baselines. The staff at Lincoln Park are careful only to all proper number of people in the gym. It couldn’t be more than a couple hundred. But it was enough to make it load and provide a distinct home court advantage for the Lions with their students and fans quite literally on the edge of the court.

“I think the atmosphere was great. I love it. It was like a north side battle. You’ve got kids on both sides who know each other. It was great. I think the home court advance came to us, our school and wave of kids came out and show pride and support,” Anderson said of his team’s home court advantage.

The Lincoln Park Lions are one of the teams that emerged this year. It’s not like no one expected them to be good. They should signa last season. But the Lions have been a top team Ranked all year. They defeated Whitney Young, St. Laurence and Curie, all ranked teams. They lost to Red Shield rival and perennial powerhouse Simeon by one point in a wild one at Simeon. They lost to suburban powerhouse Warren Township also by just one point.

Of their success this year, Anderson said, “I attribute that to the hard work that these guys put in. We watch film. We work on things. When it comes to certain teams and they see film and they see what a team can't doing and won't do, we feed off that and we attacked that. We attack team’ s weaknesses.”

The Lions are poised to win the Red Shield conference. It could work out that the Lions will play #2 ranked Kenwood who is undefeated in the conference for the championship. The Lions have one loss in the conference, but if they win the rest of their conference games and defeat Kenwood in the regular season penultimate game, they would be Red Shield champs.

Just saying. Still almost half the season to play.

DePaul Prep Dominates Geneseo 38-13 in 3A Playoff

By Jack Lydon

The DePaul Prep Rams dominated the Geneseo Maple Leafs 38-13 Saturday afternoon in the IHSA 3A second round playoff game. The Rams’ offense scored on all five of their first half possession with four touchdowns and a field goal.

No one knew what to expect in this game. Geneseo (6-5), a team from western Illinois by the Quad Cities, in the Western Big 6 Conference runs an old school double wing “three yards and a cloud of dust” type offense that offense that gives teams trouble who don’t regularly see it. The double wing expects to run the ball and control the clock. Geneseo did neither.

After the Rams took the opening kick off down the field for an early score, a three-yard touchdown run by Rams’ senior running back Nick Martinez, Geneseo answered. On a classic quarterback option, Maple Leafs’ junior tail back Kye Weinzert took the pitch and raced up the Rams’ sideline 75 yards to Rams 12 yard-line. On the next play, Geneseo junior quarterback Braxton McAvoy threw for a 12-yard touchdown on a pass to the middle of the endzone. Not exactly three yards and a cloud of dust.

But Fernando “Juju” Rodriguez and the powerful Rams offense were too much for Geneseo. The one-two punch of Juju’s passing and the gashing runs of Nick Martinez had the Rams scoring every time they had the ball in the first half: four touchdowns and a field goal. A double-wing offense simply can’t overcome that.

It wasn’t just the conservative offense that doomed Geneseo. The Rams’ defense had something to do with it. The Rams forced six turnovers and allowed probably not that many first downs. The Rams recovered four Geneseo fumbles and intercepted two passes.

It was the Rams that ran the ball. Senior running back Nick Martinez returned to the Rams backfield after aggravating a hamstring injury in the final regular season game against Benet and sitting out the first playoff game against Dyett.

“We held [Nick Martinez] out last week on purpose. We wanted him to get healthy. He felt good all week long. He was back. With him and Juju [Rodriguez] in that backfield, they get it humming,” said DePaul Prep head coach Mike Passarella.

They did indeed. Martinez’s runs kept Geneseo off balance and opened up the passing lanes for Rodriguez who threw for two touchdowns and ran for another.

“Missing a few games really affected me. I still had to stay disciplined to make sure I had a good recovery. My plan was to come back for this game and dominate,” said Martinez.

The Rams will face St. Laurence (7-3) in the 4A quarterfinal game at DePaul Prep Stadium next Saturday at 1:00 p.m. St. Laurence defeated Wheaten Academy (9-1) in something of an upset with the Vikings being the 12th seed defeating the #4 seed, Wheaton Academy 26-14.

St. Laurence is out of the Chicago Catholic League/East Suburban Catholic League White Division. The White Division is stacked with two other top teams Fenwick and Montini. Fenwick upset Brother Rice last week but lost to Downers Grove North in a close game 13-10. Montini, a 3A team, defeated #1 seed Byron and is a favorite to win 3A.

St. Laurence and DePaul Prep did not play this year. Their common opponents included only St. Patrick and Carmel. Both St. Laurence and DePaul Prep won those games.

It's had to say who will be a favorite in the DePaul Prep v. St. Laurence game. The Rams come in with the higher #9 seed to the Vikings #16 seed. But that doesn’t much matter as it does not take strength of schedule into account. The CCL/ESCC White would be considered a higher division in the conference but not by much. But the Rams are 4-1 at home this year losing only to Loyola at home.

DePaul Prep Defeats Mount Carmel 41-38; Win Chicago Catholic League

Here is a preview of this week’s story in the Inside—Booster:

By Jack Lydon

This was a heavy weight prize fight between two top teams, #4 ranked DePaul Prep (27-2, 8-0) and #7 Mount Carmel Caravan (26-5, 6-2), with top players, Jaylan McElroy and Angelo Ciaravino, for the Catholic League Championship. The Almighty must have wanted to save this game for end of season and cast the City of Chicago into a deep freeze on its regularly scheduled day causing the postponement to the end of the season.

This was not only the best game in town Monday night; it was the best game of the season and everyone knew would be. DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym as packed. There was an unconfirmed report that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelse snuck into the balcony seats after the game started but I did not see them.

The Rams fell behind 10-2 midway through the first quarter. Their shots were not falling. Mount Carmel scored inside early. Two things that typically do not happen. The Rams typically own the first quarter and give up very few points inside and trailed 14-8 at the end of the first quarter.

“They kept their composure. We talked about it. We have been there before. We are 13-1 in the playoffs the last two years. They have seen everything from down twelve with 2:50 to go to double overtime and overtime at Leo. They have seen a lot. It’s a thirty-two minute game,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

The Rams rallied in the second quarter with stellar defense holding the Caravan to five points and going into halftime tied at 19-19. This would be one of those games decided in the last minute.

In the second half, the Rams came out of the gate scoring opening a seven-point lead at one point in the third quarter. But Mount Carmel is too good to go away quietly. The Caravan’s best player, Angelo Ciaravino, the fourth ranked player in the class of 2024, made his presence felt scoring 14 of his 18 points in the second half.    

“We did a poor job on [Ciaravino] late. We had some poor execution defensively. He is that good of a player. He going to the Big Ten for a reason,” Kleinschmidt said.

The game was tied at thirty-eight each late. The defenses were tough. A steal by DePaul Prep’s PJ Chambers led to a foul that stopped Chambers from a layup. The gym screamed for an intentional foul as Mount Carmel’s player wrapped up Chambers with both arms. Chambers free throw game the Rams a one-point lead.

Mount Carmel’s Ciaravino fifth foul caused another stoppage and a blizzard condemnation from the Caravan’s head coach Phil Segroves.

Two more free throws by sophomore forward Rashawn Porter game the Rams a three-point lead. The Caravan had the ball down three points and a chance to tie the game with a little over ten seconds to play. Point guard Noah Mister drove the lane, his right foot slide, he put his left for down, leaned back picking up his right foot, shot the ball which went in. A whistle rang out. The gym collectively growned thinking it was a shooting foul and Mister would have a chance to tie the game.

No. The call was traveling. The ref waived off for basket. DePaul Prep got the ball.

The Rams held on in the final few seconds winning 41-38 to secure the Chicago Catholic League championship for the first time since the 2018-2019 season. Their sole Catholic League championship since the Gordon Tech days.

“First goal is done, yes,” said Kleinschmidt of the championship. “It’s everything. It’s the best league in the state by far. One of the best in the Midwest. There are a couple places to be greedy in basketball. Winning, winning it all and at the free throw line you get greedy. We are extremely proud of being undefeated in the best league in the stat and one of the best in the Midwest. 27-2, just tied a school record.”

“We just took what they game us,” said DePaul Prep’s leading scorer, senior forward PJ Chambers, with 20 points said.

“It was very important to win the Catholic League. Coach [Kleinschmidt] was very clear on what it means to win the Catholic League championship by ourselves. It’s so nice to win it all by ourselves.” Technically, the Rams had secured at least a three way share of the Championship with Brother Rice’s defeat of Mount Carmel the previous Friday.

What’s the second goal?

“State baby!” Chambers said. The Rams enter the IHSA 3A division state championship tournament next week. They open the in the Carmel Catholic regional in Mundelein on Tuesday. As the number one seed, the Rams will initially face the winner of the Grayslake North and Amundsen and then the winner of Wauconda and Carmel Catholic.

DePaul Prep Handles Loyola 40-18

The DePaul Prep Rams are for real. They just keep passing test after test. The #9 ranked Rams (10-0, 2-0) defeated the #25 ranked Loyola Academy Ramblers (8-3, 1-2) 40-18 at DePaul Prep on Friday.

If defense is Loyola’s calling card, DePaul Prep handed it right back to them Friday night at DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym, and then some. The Ramblers has only managed to score nine points against the Rams until well into the fourth quarter. That’s not a typical high school even for the notoriously low scoring Catholic League games. The Ramblers managed to double that output in garbage time finishing with 18 points.

The Rams had struggled against the ‘Blers in recent years dropping four out of the last five games they have played with scores typically in the thirties and forties. Last year’s score was the lowest of the last five with a 39-36 Loyola win.

DePaul Prep’s man-to-man defense denied open shots to the Ramblers. Rams’ guards PJ Chambers, Makai Kvamme, Rob Walls and AJ Chambers were defending everything. The shots the Ramblers did manage to get up, didn’t fall. Rams forward Jaylan McElroy, Jonas Johnson and Rashawn Porter battle on the boards preventing easy second shots for the Ramblers.   

Junior forward Jonas Johnson led the scoring for the Rams with ten points including to three-pointers that lifted the Rams late in the first quarter. Senior guard PJ Chambers had nine points despite missing significant minutes because of some early foul trouble. Senior forward Jaylan McElroy finished with eight points.

The Chicago Catholic League Blue is largely regarded as the best conference in the state this year. Six of its nine teams have been ranked this year: # 4 Mount Carmel, #5 Brother Rice, #9 DePaul Prep, #13 DeLaSalle, #25 Loyola and formerly ranked St. Ignatius. The win over Loyola lifted the Rams to 2-0 in the conference. Mount Carmel and Brother Rice also remain undefeated in conference play with Friday night wins over St. Ignatius and DeLaSalle respectively.

“Lane was ranked in the pre-season. Lane tested us. Niles North tested us. Those teams are good. We haven’t been Catholic League tested. Loyola was on the road at Br. Rice. They were [tested] and we weren’t. I was nervous about that,” Rams’ head coach Tom Kleinschmidt said. His Rams passed the test handling the Ramblers like they haven’t in recent years.

Of his defense, Kleinschmidt said, “I think we switched up on them. We took them out of their first and second options. We stayed home on some shooters. The ball was not falling for them. We had a little bit to do with that. There we some shots that they would make on other teams.”

Loyola’s coach Tom Livatino is as good as it gets and dialed up the defense at the start of the second quarter going to his high-pressure trapping one-three-one defense.

“We had some unforced turnovers that we were not real happy with but the way we were guarding we forgave that a little bit,” Kleinschmidt continued. “We practiced the one-three-one. We have seen it on film and we were prepared for it.”

Coach Kleinschmidt was all business after the game with little time to celebrate a dominant Catholic League victory. That might have something to do with the fact that the Rams will face #6 ranked Bloom Township (5-2) on Sunday.

“They are big and strong. We haven’t watched them. We put all of our eggs in the Loyola basket. We will watch it tonight and tomorrow morning and then we will have practice. It’s the last game before [Christmas] break. We will go play our ass off and give it shot,” Kleinschmidt said of Bloom.