In Depth Look Back: The Caravan versus the Hilltopper

[EdgyTim]

This was submitted by one of our loyal EDGY Board fans who is also a life long Hilltopper fan and an alum.

The Caravan and The Hilltopper

The Caravan vs. The Hilltoppers: An in depth look and history lesson between these two highly successful programs.

edgytim.rivals.com

 

[DeanOfSelection]

While it was not the best overall game, the 2001 game was the most hyped for me. That had an awesome electricity on that Saturday afternoon. That was most crowded that I personally had seen Gately. Best game might be the last one in 2007 with the wild ending. I wish they could have played in 1990.

 

[JCHillmen]

While it was not the best overall game, the 2001 game was the most hyped for me. That had an awesome electricity on that Saturday afternoon. That was most crowded that I personally had seen Gately. Best game might be the last one in 2007 with the wild ending. I wish they could have played in 1990.

Definitely agree. No 1 vs no 2. Two time defending 4A vs two time defending 5A champs. Top 5 national ranking for JC and 2 Big Ten recruits vs an MC with a Big Ten WR. MC looking to avenge the last two years' results against a team with a 29 game winning streak.

Don't think I have ever seen a game as hyped as that by Chicago area media. Probably never will be another one.

Gately was fun that day even if the result wasn't in JC's favor.

 

[DeanOfSelection]

Definitely agree. No 1 vs no 2. Two time defending 4A vs two time defending 5A champs. Top 5 national ranking for JC and 2 Big Ten recruits vs an MC with a Big Ten WR. MC looking to avenge the last two years' results against a team with a 29 game winning streak.

Don't think I have ever seen a game as hyped as that by Chicago area media. Probably never will be another one.

Gately was fun that day even if the result wasn't in JC's favor.

Each play was tense that day. JC ran out of time at the end almost had quite the comeback.

 

[McCaravan]

First time I saw them play was in 1991. JCA was highly touted with this kid who the Tribune did a story on because he would drag a semi truck tire around as a weight to gain leg strength. His name was Mike Alstott. MC had just won their third State Championship in a row and lost a lot of starters, but returned talented QB Mike McGrew.....they were also experimenting with this one kid they formally used as a TE but with D1 talent at TE with Matt Cushing they thought they would try him on the DL with his long arms and speed....his name was Simeon Rice. The week one game had an overflow crowd at Gatley. The new Caravan Defense focused on Alstott and came on strong, stopping him the entire first half.....the second half he began to wear MC down though. Even though his yardage improved, MC jumped out to a 24-6 lead with 6:00 minutes left in the 4th.....people started to leave to beat the traffic....then JCA scored missed the 2 point 24-12. Then JCA blocked MC's punt with 3 minutes left and it was recovered in the endzone 24-18. They quickly stop MC again and with under a minute they throw a 70 yard TD pass out of nowhere.....Game goes to OT, they exchange TD's in the first OT, in the second OT MC gets stuffed and gets a FG, JCA takes the ball and in one play Alstott showed why he dragged that tire around. Final JCA 37 MC 34, 2 OT. It was the most painful L I ever see MC encounter......until 1993 and 1994 vs JCA.....1994 was like something out of the movie All the Right Moves, damn near exactly.

 

[USD24]

My favorite was the 92 game in the playoffs. I was fortunate enough to be on the sidelines that year as a coach. Great defensive battle between two heavyweights. Matt Larsen ran over a MC linebacker in route to a long touchdown that was the difference . So many great games since the early 90s. Nice that they are playing again.

 

[doctor_d]

First time I saw them play was in 1991. JCA was highly touted with this kid who the Tribune did a story on because he would drag a semi truck tire around as a weight to gain leg strength. His name was Mike Alstott. MC had just won their third State Championship in a row and lost a lot of starters, but returned talented QB Mike McGrew.....they were also experimenting with this one kid they formally used as a TE but with D1 talent at TE with Matt Cushing they thought they would try him on the DL with his long arms and speed....his name was Simeon Rice. The week one game had an overflow crowd at Gatley. The new Caravan Defense focused on Alstott and came on strong, stopping him the entire first half.....the second half he began to wear MC down though. Even though his yardage improved, MC jumped out to a 24-6 lead with 6:00 minutes left in the 4th.....people started to leave to beat the traffic....then JCA scored missed the 2 point 24-12. Then JCA blocked MC's punt with 3 minutes left and it was recovered in the endzone 24-18. They quickly stop MC again and with under a minute they throw a 70 yard TD pass out of nowhere.....Game goes to OT, they exchange TD's in the first OT, in the second OT MC gets stuffed and gets a FG, JCA takes the ball and in one play Alstott showed why he dragged that tire around. Final JCA 37 MC 34, 2 OT. It was the most painful L I ever see MC encounter......until 1993 and 1994 vs JCA.....1994 was like something out of the movie All the Right Moves, damn near exactly.

Simeon Rice vs Mike Alstott
Future Tampa Bay teammates and Super Bowl Champs.
Very cool.

 

[McCaravan]

My favorite was the 92 game in the playoffs. I was fortunate enough to be on the sidelines that year as a coach. Great defensive battle between two heavyweights. Matt Larsen ran over a MC linebacker in route to a long touchdown that was the difference . So many great games since the early 90s. Nice that they are playing again.

The "Therill Smith and his big mouth" game as it's been referred to on Dante. While I have strongly defended that revenge factors and bulletin board material only last till kickoff and then you have to play the game, this game maybe the exception

 

[McCaravan]

With the exception of the 07 game , most of MC's wins over JCA have been comfortable wins...games I really don't remember, but when JCA beats MC, they bring the dramatics to an art form.

1991- See my post above.

1992 playoffs- See @USD24 post above

1993- #1 ranked MC playing at JCA as the home team due to a CPS strike making Gately unusable. #1 MC and Donovan McNabb had a comfortable 24-13 lead midway through the 4th Quarter.....JCA wins 27-24

1994- MC with the lead, JCA throws a desperation pass that MC intercepts at the 3 with 30 seconds left. MC takes the field for a easy snap and victory formation when MC QB John Welsh, making his first start, fumbles the victory formation snap....JCA recovers. Time left for one play, JCA runs it in for the W. True story folks.

1999- MC coming of a dominant 1998 season returns several starters from that team and is #1 in most papers. JCA was coming off 2 subpar seasons by their standards and was either unranked or ranked low in most preseason polls. But they did have 2 very highly D1 players on defense in Mike Goolsby and Mike Maloney. Week 1 they meet at Gately. JCA wins 10-7.....that defense was extremely good. MC would go to win State again, and JCA would as well and began their newest reign of terror.

2000- JCA wasn't sneaking up on anyone this year but they lost Goolsby and Maloney to graduation and MC had one of the States best RBs in Don Dorham and Marty Quinn......JCA comes out with some 6'8 TE and a 220 pound 6'2 RB Zyerwinski and while MC came back from a quick deficit to make it interesting, and had a TD called back late that would have given them the lead, JCA's two headed Giants scored late to secure their 29-20 W.

So there is pain MC has had to deal with.....and I think it's made this series what it is!!!! And it doesn't make me feel bad for them for the 2007 game when our current coach purposely made that bad toss to set up the dramatic finish 😀

 

[Kevin JCHS 81]

1994- MC with the lead, JCA throws a desperation pass that MC intercepts at the 3 with 30 seconds left. MC takes the field for a easy snap and victory formation when MC QB John Welsh, making his first start, fumbles the victory formation snap....JCA recovers. Time left for one play, JCA runs it in for the W. True story folks.

OK your memory is probably WAY better than mine, but I remember this a little different:
- QB was still McNabb
- MC was so close to the goal line, they couldn't run a Victory Formation snap. So MC opted for a quick QB sneak right to the left of the center
- McNabb (or Welsh) was met head on by our 260# ILB (and also 2nd in State Heavyweight Wrestler, Verselli) and lost that collision and the football on about 2-3 yard line.
- Verselli was from Wilmington and his little brother was a stud for Wilmington on their dream team who were upset in their Semi Final game.

 

[Kevin JCHS 81]

OK your memory is probably WAY better than mine, but I remember this a little different:
- QB was still McNabb
- MC was so close to the goal line, they couldn't run a Victory Formation snap. So MC opted for a quick QB sneak right to the left of the center
- McNabb (or Welsh) was met head on by our 260# ILB (and also 2nd in State Heavyweight Wrestler, Verselli) and lost that collision and the football on about 2-3 yard line.
- Verselli was from Wilmington and his little brother was a stud for Wilmington on their dream team who were upset in their Semi Final game.

OMG I'm getting old and all these Great Football games are starting to blur together.

 

[McCaravan]

OK your memory is probably WAY better than mine, but I remember this a little different:
- QB was still McNabb
- MC was so close to the goal line, they couldn't run a Victory Formation snap. So MC opted for a quick QB sneak right to the left of the center
- McNabb (or Welsh) was met head on by our 260# ILB (and also 2nd in State Heavyweight Wrestler, Verselli) and lost that collision and the football on about 2-3 yard line.
- Verselli was from Wilmington and his little brother was a stud for Wilmington on their dream team who were upset in their Semi Final game.

It was Welsh

JOLIET C. WINS A WILD ONE

It was a hot August night, but baseball already seemed far, far away. Even the swimming pool next door was empty. In Joliet Friday night, football was definitely the only game in town. Talk about h…

www.chicagotribune.com

 

[Kevin JCHS 81]

It was Welsh

JOLIET C. WINS A WILD ONE

It was a hot August night, but baseball already seemed far, far away. Even the swimming pool next door was empty. In Joliet Friday night, football was definitely the only game in town. Talk about h…

www.chicagotribune.com

I can't read that, no Tribune subscription.

 

[doctor_d]

OK your memory is probably WAY better than mine, but I remember this a little different:
- QB was still McNabb
- MC was so close to the goal line, they couldn't run a Victory Formation snap. So MC opted for a quick QB sneak right to the left of the center
- McNabb (or Welsh) was met head on by our 260# ILB (and also 2nd in State Heavyweight Wrestler, Verselli) and lost that collision and the football on about 2-3 yard line.
- Verselli was from Wilmington and his little brother was a stud for Wilmington on their dream team who were upset in their Semi Final game.

That was back when Wilmo would “lose” a lot of kids to JCA, Providence and BMac. Jake was definitely a load.
Younger bro Tony Vercelli was multiple time all state in 3 sports. I think like 7 all state recognitions. His team took 2nd in 3A his junior year and lost quarterfinal heartbreaker 14-11 to Driscoll the following year.
Their father was also an excellent athlete at Wilmo and played football at Northwestern.

 

[Kevin JCHS 81]

That was back when Wilmo would “lose” a lot of kids to JCA, Providence and BMac. Jake was definitely a load.
Younger bro Tony Vercelli was multiple time all state in 3 sports. I think like 7 all state recognitions. His team took 2nd in 3A his junior year and lost quarterfinal heartbreaker 14-11 to Driscoll the following year.
Their father was also an excellent athlete at Wilmo and played football at Northwestern.

I hate losing the specific details as I get older. McNabb/Welsh, Tony/Jake, Semi's/Quarters.

I was at that 14-11 loss to Driscoll, that was Driscoll's 5th in a row and the 1st team to do it. I've never seen a more lopsided game that was won by the team that got severely outplayed. Driscoll had like 2 1st downs the entire game, scored on 2 extremely lucky plays. Wasn't one of those TD's on a botched Wilmington field goal attempt? That, and weren't Driscoll's 1st 4 Titles in class 4A and then they dropped down to 3A (enrollment) for the 5th. That would never fly with current rules.

And, that's the Wilmington Dream team with Roark & Vercelli that won the Baseball state championship soph & senior years, but somehow got beat as juniors.

 

[doctor_d]

I hate losing the specific details as I get older. McNabb/Welsh, Tony/Jake, Semi's/Quarters.

I was at that 14-11 loss to Driscoll, that was Driscoll's 5th in a row and the 1st team to do it. I've never seen a more lopsided game that was won by the team that got severely outplayed. Driscoll had like 2 1st downs the entire game, scored on 2 extremely lucky plays. Wasn't one of those TD's on a botched Wilmington field goal attempt? That, and weren't Driscoll's 1st 4 Titles in class 4A and then they dropped down to 3A (enrollment) for the 5th. That would never fly with current rules.

And, that's the Wilmington Dream team with Roark & Vercelli that won the Baseball state championship soph & senior years, but somehow got beat as juniors.

Driscoll got into 3A because Manteno lost week 9 to 2 win Reed-Custer and finished 4-5 instead of 5-4.
Tony got hurt in the 2nd Q.
Wilmington defense completely dominated but Driscoll scored on a 2 yard drive after a sack fumble, and also on a long fumble return for TD. Play probably should’ve been blown dead on forward progress.
Wilmington only TD was a blocked FG return, so Driscoll defense was great too, but not having Vercelli was too much. Wilmo had the ball late and had a kid get behind the defense but Roark overthrew him by about a foot or so.
It was a great game even though Wilmo lost.