Regular season game of the year. We've been talking about this one since the schedule came out. I'm hearing MC is a slight favorite, but I don't see it. At LA on what's supposed to be an unusualy warm October afternoon. Who does everyone see as the key players to watch?
MC vs LA...... What should we expect?
- Thread starter feeto
- Start date
Haven’t seen much of Loyola since week 1. ……. Brother Rices success vs. MC seemed to be a QB who constantly rolled out of the pocket and was a threat to run. I’d expect Stearney to do the same as he’s a dual threat as well. Not sure how much running he did this year? Hopefully MC will combat it with a speedy D. Arrington like player as a spy. If MC can neutralize this threat I have every confidence their defense will be just fine.
The offense is the offense for MC. Plenty of weapons. It’s been my opinion that MC seems to have trouble getting the run going vs. these top tier defensive teams. They’ve been able to combat these troubles with an explosive passing attack with Dowling leading the charge w/ receivers such as Furlong, Deacy, Arrington, Gilliam, Taylor and others. ….. Dupree and Turbo out of the backfield. Along with a now healthy Jaden Bossie. It just seems endless with these offensive weapons MC possesses. Limit penalties and turnovers all the cliches. Hopefully this senior lead offensive line can buckle down in the trenches get a lead and then pound the run to eat up the clock. Grind it down to nothing each and every play. MC varsity is 2-8 in the last 10 trips to wilmette. Last win I can remember is 2017? Matt Lenti making a game saving tackle at the 1 to secure the win. Should be a good one for sure!!
I would expect a football game followed by a bunch of guys from the Southside arguing on a message board with at least one mention of Brother Rice’s tiny visitor stands randomly tossed in.
And something to do with pizza and pizza delivery.
No that’s SR-MC. Hollywood is to sheshepoopoo for pizza!
I know it’s MC/Rita, but it always finds a way into these threads.
Dupree 3 TDs
Furlong 2 TDs
Dowling 1 TD
Arrington 1 TD
Defense 3 sacks, 1 int.
Score 49-27
If MC loses, I'll eat a can of dog food.
Furlong 2 TDs
Dowling 1 TD
Arrington 1 TD
Defense 3 sacks, 1 int.
Score 49-27
If MC loses, I'll eat a can of dog food.
Last edited:
Two top programs going at in one of the biggest games of the year. I expect a great game! The winner might get a 4-5 team in the first round! Wow LMAO! Hahaha
Up to this point, it’s the biggest game of the year and it’s not close
Is it really that big of a game? For the fans of great HS football it is but from a playoff and state title standpoint, it isn't. Win or lose, MC will be a heavy favorite to win 7a. Loyola (along with LWE) is the favorite in 8a. For these teams, it's all about state titles.
I expect it decided on last play of game. Last 3 Fall games were : '21 MC stopped on 2 point conversion 21-19, '19 MC Last second FG 17-14, '18 Lenti tackle on goal line as time expired in 17-12 win.
Its for the Catholic League Blue Title which is always a good thing to win.
Like McC said…winning the CCL Blue title. But there’s also the south side vs north side component and it’s great for recruiting among other things. Who doesn’t like bragging rights!
I normally try to do a position vs position breakdown for big games like these but I'm not that familiar with the LA lineup outside of the players who made the headlines.
LA blew out BR, MC had a tight game. MC blew out Marist, LA had a tight game....Both had a similar game vs SR.....so the common opponent factor is out the window. Goes without saying but this will be the best team either team has faced this year. MC offense just doesn't seem to have many weaknesses. Dowling and Furlong have both broken career QB and WR records at MC and its only weak 8....Dupree has about 15 TDs rushing and receiving. Bossie is back and Manning complements Dupree so well....Taylor is a future D1 TE and is only a Soph....even in an "off" game vs BR they scored 28 points and threw for 300 yards.....Defensively had one "off" half vs BR as they adjusted to the mobile QB...I think Brown just threw them for a loop and not having Parker Startz in that situation didn't help....that won't fool them again. LA has not seen a team with this speed like this yet this season, and with so many weapons to
Loyola is an extremely talented team.....they always are. That field on Saturday afternoons is MC's Kryponite, but they have won their before, last in 2018....One advantage LA has is in the kicking game.....MC main kicker, who I think has only attempted 1 FG, has been out a few weeks with an injury I'm told, not sure when he will be back. They have been using their back up kicker. LA kicker just booted a 56 yard FG and has been money all year I'm told, so if it comes down to this, LA has the advantage.
It's going to be a great game. Looking forward to it.
LA blew out BR, MC had a tight game. MC blew out Marist, LA had a tight game....Both had a similar game vs SR.....so the common opponent factor is out the window. Goes without saying but this will be the best team either team has faced this year. MC offense just doesn't seem to have many weaknesses. Dowling and Furlong have both broken career QB and WR records at MC and its only weak 8....Dupree has about 15 TDs rushing and receiving. Bossie is back and Manning complements Dupree so well....Taylor is a future D1 TE and is only a Soph....even in an "off" game vs BR they scored 28 points and threw for 300 yards.....Defensively had one "off" half vs BR as they adjusted to the mobile QB...I think Brown just threw them for a loop and not having Parker Startz in that situation didn't help....that won't fool them again. LA has not seen a team with this speed like this yet this season, and with so many weapons to
Loyola is an extremely talented team.....they always are. That field on Saturday afternoons is MC's Kryponite, but they have won their before, last in 2018....One advantage LA has is in the kicking game.....MC main kicker, who I think has only attempted 1 FG, has been out a few weeks with an injury I'm told, not sure when he will be back. They have been using their back up kicker. LA kicker just booted a 56 yard FG and has been money all year I'm told, so if it comes down to this, LA has the advantage.
It's going to be a great game. Looking forward to it.
Silver Rain:
I'm going to hold you to this vow. Should LA emerge victorious, I will personally spoon feed you a can of Alpo.
Do these schools really recruiting against each other? Seems like the huge distance would have them pulling for different talent pools.
Occasionally but I’m more so referring to recruiting agains SR, BR and Marist, among others. Kids want to play for CCL Blue titles and state championships. Where im from, kids from the same grammar school go to 5-6 different high schools.
As far as I know I think there were only 2 kids in my class from the Wilmette area. Not sure how many kids out that way go to MC nowadays
But we as fans sometimes want the 7A and 8A champs to play if the 7A champ could compete vs the 8A champ (99% of the time the 8A champ is undeniably the best in state but some years…)
Either way, a long way to go to see if both end up 7A and 8A champs but (and a big but, I see you LWE) if they do, all heads will turn back to this game (unfortunately?) for the true state champ which adds even more intrigue to this week’s match up.
Parker Startz and Manning were definitely missed in the BR game. However the MC defense didn’t “adjust” to the mobile QB until he left the game with an injury. In fact, MC’s entire secondary and corners had a completely different group of kids in the second half. Let’s hope they figure out a mobile Stearney early or it might be a long day in Wilmette. Something tells me they’ll be just fine!
NFHS should televise this. I’ll be renewing my playoff subscription next week.
Borrowed from a 1993 Paul Sullivan Tribune article written in a day-in-the-life manner.
As corrected earlier, no pizza delivery references in this one.
Has much changed?
......
It is game day at Mt. Carmel. Like so many places where football is king, athletes and coaches alike prepare by tossing around fighting words like Frisbees.
Each team has its own unique approach to game day. This is how Mt. Carmel prepared last Saturday for Loyola.
Game day starts around 8 a.m., when players file into the school for taping. They will wander over to the nearby practice field and watch the first quarter of the Loyola-Mt. Carmel freshman game before heading to chapel service.
At 10:30, the first of several team meetings takes place in a first-floor classroom. The defensive unit heads in first while a student marches up to the blackboard and hangs up a banner.
"It takes a little more to be a Champion," reads the slogan for a sporting goods company.
For six minutes, no one in the room makes a sound, with only the rain on the windows breaking the silence. Then the defensive coaches make their entrances: line coach John Potocki in front followed by defensive coordinator Dave Lenti, the head coach's brother, and linebackers coach Pete Kammholz.
Lenti goes over defensive assignments and reminds players that Loyola is a team that likes trick plays, particularly on second down with short yardage.
The smallest details are brought up, such as the expected emotional reaction of the players when they board the team bus to begin the 30-mile trip up the Edens Expressway to Loyola.
"Don't burn a lot of energy on the bus getting all excited," Lenti warns. "After a while you'll see the Old Orchard Road exit and you know we're close, and then Lake Avenue. Then you start getting focused."
Toward the end of his remarks, Lenti launches the opening verbal assault on the North Shore, the area Loyola calls home.
"Their fans will be wearing Izods and turtlenecks, barbecueing and having a grand old time," Lenti says. "There is nothing better than going to someone else's house and taking it over."
The us-versus-them theme will be repeated in the next meeting, when Potocki gives a "demographics" lesson to the offense.
"If you study Chicago history," Potocki says, "you'll find that the people who got a little more money usually moved up north. Now, your ancestors lived on the South Side, and they worked hard all their lives. Nothing was ever given to them. That work ethic, that mental toughness and physical toughness, it's something that is ingrained in us."
........
As corrected earlier, no pizza delivery references in this one.
Has much changed?
......
It is game day at Mt. Carmel. Like so many places where football is king, athletes and coaches alike prepare by tossing around fighting words like Frisbees.
Each team has its own unique approach to game day. This is how Mt. Carmel prepared last Saturday for Loyola.
Game day starts around 8 a.m., when players file into the school for taping. They will wander over to the nearby practice field and watch the first quarter of the Loyola-Mt. Carmel freshman game before heading to chapel service.
At 10:30, the first of several team meetings takes place in a first-floor classroom. The defensive unit heads in first while a student marches up to the blackboard and hangs up a banner.
"It takes a little more to be a Champion," reads the slogan for a sporting goods company.
For six minutes, no one in the room makes a sound, with only the rain on the windows breaking the silence. Then the defensive coaches make their entrances: line coach John Potocki in front followed by defensive coordinator Dave Lenti, the head coach's brother, and linebackers coach Pete Kammholz.
Lenti goes over defensive assignments and reminds players that Loyola is a team that likes trick plays, particularly on second down with short yardage.
The smallest details are brought up, such as the expected emotional reaction of the players when they board the team bus to begin the 30-mile trip up the Edens Expressway to Loyola.
"Don't burn a lot of energy on the bus getting all excited," Lenti warns. "After a while you'll see the Old Orchard Road exit and you know we're close, and then Lake Avenue. Then you start getting focused."
Toward the end of his remarks, Lenti launches the opening verbal assault on the North Shore, the area Loyola calls home.
"Their fans will be wearing Izods and turtlenecks, barbecueing and having a grand old time," Lenti says. "There is nothing better than going to someone else's house and taking it over."
The us-versus-them theme will be repeated in the next meeting, when Potocki gives a "demographics" lesson to the offense.
"If you study Chicago history," Potocki says, "you'll find that the people who got a little more money usually moved up north. Now, your ancestors lived on the South Side, and they worked hard all their lives. Nothing was ever given to them. That work ethic, that mental toughness and physical toughness, it's something that is ingrained in us."
........
Make sure you wait 'til there's less than a month before the finals or you'll get hit for 2 months of fees.
Boys, this Saturday's MC at LA is not only the biggest game of the year, but I'd say 10 years if not more. As an MC guy, it's likely the biggest regular season game in the school's 122 years.
I'll be making my first trek to Wilmette since I watched the Loyola Ramblers shut down and shut out Chris James and the Notre Dame Dons in the second round of the 8A playoffs. What a sad day that was--thought the Dons were primed for a run.
I think Loyola takes this one 27-24 in a classic.
I think Loyola takes this one 27-24 in a classic.
I’d agree. All this nice talk about blue title is a true statement to an extent. One of the secrets of week 9s in the blue is, if the first half doesn’t go your way, use the second half to get ready for the playoffs. But, this year with the possible combined class state championship on the line, the first possible unification belt if you would, will have this one bigger than many, if not all the games in my handsome near 50 ish years of watching prep football
WWS unified the belt in 2010. Beat MS to death early in the season. MS beat MC in the 8A championship.
The real question is what happens if the winner of the game doesn't win the championship while the loser does? Like 2007 NN/WWS.
10 year breakdown
2011- LA 12-7- LA loses to The Brook in State. MC loses to The Brook in the second round.
2012- LA 30-27 in OT. MC wins State, LA does not.
2013- LA 24-17 in a game that took two days to finish, literally. MC wins State, LA loses in title game.
2014- MC, needing a W in week 9 to be playoff eligible gets a gift from their Angel Coach E and wins 10-7. Neither team advanced to title game but MC made an impressive run to the semis before losing to PC and Myles Boykin.
2015- LA 49-21. Loyola wins state to complete a dominant season.
2016- LA 35-28. LA loses the Title game. MC fails to make the playoffs for the first time in over 30 years.
2017- LA 31-7 in Lenti’s last game vs LA. LA loses to East in the title game.
2018- MC 17-12 in Lynch’s first game in the series. MC stops LA about as close as Washington stopped the Bears last week. LA then gets blown out by BR, narrowly escapes Ignatius in OT and loses to Montini at home.....they were written off. Then they went on a terror and didn’t lose again, knocking off what some said was an unbeatable East team then winning State and avenges the lob sided L to BR. Impressive. MC knocks off ESL in the quarters then is upset by SCN in the semis.
2019- MC 17-14 on last second FG. First game of the series played at Barda Dowling. MC wins State, LA had a hard time figuring out Marist that year.
2021 Spring- Damn Covid...LA 35-17. Believe it was the first time the MC class of 21 lost a game and it happened @Loyola field...as I said in another post, kryptonite. LA had a great team, I would have loved to have seen this game in the Fall of 2020 as intended though. In the Spring MC was without 4 Star recruit Ben Perry who left to Louisville early when fall was canceled and Tom Egan, sack leader from 2019 who opted out for Baseball. Obviously no State that year.
2021- LA 21-19 in a thriller. Neither team advanced to State.
2022- Stay tuned.
2011- LA 12-7- LA loses to The Brook in State. MC loses to The Brook in the second round.
2012- LA 30-27 in OT. MC wins State, LA does not.
2013- LA 24-17 in a game that took two days to finish, literally. MC wins State, LA loses in title game.
2014- MC, needing a W in week 9 to be playoff eligible gets a gift from their Angel Coach E and wins 10-7. Neither team advanced to title game but MC made an impressive run to the semis before losing to PC and Myles Boykin.
2015- LA 49-21. Loyola wins state to complete a dominant season.
2016- LA 35-28. LA loses the Title game. MC fails to make the playoffs for the first time in over 30 years.
2017- LA 31-7 in Lenti’s last game vs LA. LA loses to East in the title game.
2018- MC 17-12 in Lynch’s first game in the series. MC stops LA about as close as Washington stopped the Bears last week. LA then gets blown out by BR, narrowly escapes Ignatius in OT and loses to Montini at home.....they were written off. Then they went on a terror and didn’t lose again, knocking off what some said was an unbeatable East team then winning State and avenges the lob sided L to BR. Impressive. MC knocks off ESL in the quarters then is upset by SCN in the semis.
2019- MC 17-14 on last second FG. First game of the series played at Barda Dowling. MC wins State, LA had a hard time figuring out Marist that year.
2021 Spring- Damn Covid...LA 35-17. Believe it was the first time the MC class of 21 lost a game and it happened @Loyola field...as I said in another post, kryptonite. LA had a great team, I would have loved to have seen this game in the Fall of 2020 as intended though. In the Spring MC was without 4 Star recruit Ben Perry who left to Louisville early when fall was canceled and Tom Egan, sack leader from 2019 who opted out for Baseball. Obviously no State that year.
2021- LA 21-19 in a thriller. Neither team advanced to State.
2022- Stay tuned.
Last edited:
I'll say biggest regular season game since 2001 vs JC and 1998 v Providence
I may have to splurge on the 2 months since the first weekend of playoffs are next weekend. I’ll have to look at the matchups and decide how badly I want to see the games.
Kryptonite vs. what Mike O'Brien calls "Mount Carmel magic." Plus, this MC team has proven to be, as was rumored in the summer, one of it's best ever. LA is always good to great, but this year's Caravan is exceptional.
LA does a stream as well I believe. It’s not through You Tube you have to go on their website.
I believe the finals weekend is on ME-Tv, so you wouldn't need NFHS, Even so, the playoffs begin Oct 28, and those finals are Nov 25 and 26. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong (and has anyone ever given that a second thought?)
I do not know if they have proven anything yet. To be amongst the greats, it is 14-0 or bust. That is the bar MC has set.
This is MCs year - key Senior leadership - I'd be shocked if they don't beat the crap out of LA. Put 58 on em Jordan
