By Rob Valentin

FOOTBALL — After three straight tremendously successful seasons, Loyola Academy finds itself expecting more than a good season and a playoff run — a lot more.
They want it all, the Class 8A state championship that has eluded them the last three year.

In 2009 and 2010, the Ramblers fell to eventual state champion Maine South in the semifinals. Last season they made it to the title game before dropping a 21-17 heartbreaker when Bolingbrook scored a go-ahead touchdown with a little more than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

“The last three years we have been so close the expectations to succeed seems ingrained,” said Loyola head coach and former NFL linebacker John Holecek. “These players are very smart and successful so there are no false expectations. They realize that hard work is the only way to have a chance to succeed.”

Coming so close last year had a big effect on workouts during the offseason.

“It gives us that mental edge because we want to be there again,” said lineman Darby Goodwin. “It really pushes our guys. We’re getting back, working hard in the weight room.
Everyone is here, working hard and we’re really excited about the new season coming up.”

And while the ultimate goal is to win the state title, Holecek’s players are careful to not focus on the playoffs when the calendar still says June.

“We’re really excited,” said Peter Pujals, who takes over the quarterback spot. “We just want to pick up from where we were last year. But we’re taking it one game at a time.”

One game at a time was something repeated over and over by Loyola’s leaders.

“This will be my first year as a full-time starter and every year expectations, our goal, is to win state, but we’re going to do it one game at a time,” said linebacker Cody Sullivan.

“We’re not going to rush anything. ‘One game at a time’ is basically our motto for the season. We’ll look at the opener but not too far ahead of that.”

On the offensive side, Pujals will try and fill the shoes of the elusive Malcom Weaver, who graduated. There will be some new wrinkles to the Ramblers’ offense, but much will remain the same.

“The offense will be basically the same spread offense with some minor formation adjustments,” Holecek said. “Peter's strong, accurate arm and mobility will be a strong asset to our team. He is extremely talented and just needs more experience at the QB spot. Once he learns all of those tiny details that comes with experience, our offense will be very potent.”

Pujals is definitely excited about the opportunity to be Loyola’s signal caller.

“I just want to work on being a good leader, running the offense,” he said. “I just have to pick up my game and do the best I can.”

Pujals will have plenty of help on offense. Holecek is looking to Ryan Robordy and Julius Holley to be explosive running backs while Chris Coker and Richie Wehman are ‘very quick and elusive wide receivers that have big play potential.’ On the line, tackles Jimmy Murray and Sean Sanborn will offer Pujals protection while opening holes for the running backs.

As usual, the Ramblers expect to be known for their defense. Holecek is extremely excited about the group of players he gets to work with.

“Luke Ford will hopefully be remembered as one of the best players in Loyola history,” Holecek said. “ (He’s) 6-feet 3-inches, 200lbs, 4.6 400-yard dash and a top student, so able to learn the WR position as well as anchoring the defensive backfield. Darby Goodwin and Jack Rushin are strong returning starters at the DL position. Cody Sullivan is a very instinctive and tough MLB that will have a great year.”

Sullivan hopes to carry on a proud tradition of linebackers that have had tremendous careers at Loyola.

“Even before coach Holecek has been here, and especially since, there’s always been great linebackers at Loyola,” Sullivan said. “It’s a proud tradition, being the leaders of the defense and I’m going to do my part this year. You have to be vocal and show the guys how hard you’re working. Let them feed off of it.”

Loyola will open the 2012 season by facing Simeon, one of the better Chicago Public League teams.

“Simeon is a really good team,” Sullivan said. “They have a bunch of D-I athletes. It will be a tough challenge right from the beginning. We have no real easy games this year, no one to blow off.”

OPRF takes state baseball title

By Rob Valentin

The 2012 spring season came to an end over the weekend as the baseball state championship was held in Joliet and the softball state championship was held in Peoria.

Oak Park-River Forest outdueled Lyons Township 4-3 to capture the Class 4A baseball state title while Marian Catholic beat LaSalle Peru 10-2 for the 3A state championship.

OPRF won in thrilling fashion as center fielder Mike Brennan slapped a bases-loaded walk off single in the bottom of the seventh in a game that featured two schools from the same conference, the West Suburban Silver.

But it was catcher Jack Picchiotti who got things started for the Huskies. He led the inning off with a triple down the right field line putting Lyons Township pitcher Steve Helienbach in a pretty bad spot. The Lions elected to walk the next two batters to set up a force at home but Brennan wasn’t having any of that. Despite striking out three times earlier in the game, he wasn’t the least bit concerned.

“I knew I’d have to leave that in the past,” Brennan told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Golden sombrero with a game-winning hit? I’ll take it any day.”

OPRF struck first in the game, scoring in the bottom of the third after Picchiotti smacked a triple to left-center scoring third baseman Colin O’Brien.

LT scored once in the fourth on an infield single by Chris Taylor and again in the fifth on a double by pitcher Steve Helienbach.

The Huskies got both runs back in the bottom of the frame as pitcher Zach Weigel scored on a wild pitch and Picchiotti scored on a single by Nick Kowalczuk to give his team a 3-2 advantage.

The Lions (27-13-1) tied things up one last time in the sixth. Taylor led off with a double and was pinch run for by Kevin Pikul, who would later score on an infield single by Stewart Nelson.

Both pitchers did a fine job in the game, with each going the distance. Heilenbach took the loss, tossing six-plus innings and allowing seven hits and four walks, while striking out five.

Weigel picked up the biggest win of his life, allowing seven hits while walking two and striking out four.

It was the first state title for OPRF (30-9-1) since 1981.

SOFTBALL

The playoffs are all about getting hot at the right time and that’s exactly what the Marist Redhawks did this season.

Marist finished the season with 12 straight victories, including a 5-0 win over Bartlett to capture the Class 4A state title.

The big inning for the Redhawks came in the fifth inning. Brooke Wilson got the first run of the game in thanks to a well-executed bunt that scored Maggie Gorman. A single by Nicole Babrowski brought first baseman Haley Richy to the plate with the bases loaded.

With one swing of the bat, Richy just about sealed the win as she crushed a 3-2 pitch over the fence to give Marist all the insurance runs they would need.

Kristin Klutcharch was a rock on the mound for the Redhawks, pitching a complete game and allowing just four hits and one walk while striking out five batters.

The Class 3A title game was much closer as Glenbard South topped Marengo 2-1.

Hannah Taylor came through with the big hit in this game, driving in a pair with a single in the fourth inning.

Raiders’ pitchers and sisters Danielle and Stephanie Chitkowski combined to pick up the shut down the Marengo bats. The duo allowed just three hits in the game.

Giants pull off extra-inning stunner

By Rob Valentin

Highland Park’s wasn’t about to let its Cindarella season come to an end on Saturday as they faced Mundelein in the Glenbrook South Sectional championship.

The Giants came into the postseason with a sub .500 record but that didn’t seem to matter one bit.
Highland Park, sporting a 13-seed in the sectional, opened the playoffs with wins over third-seeded Glenbrook South (6-0) and sixth-seeded Carmel (8-6) to capture the regional title before knocking off seventh-seeded Stevenson 5-1 in the sectional semifinals.

That set up the showdown with top-seeded Mundelein for the sectional championship, something no Highland Park baseball team had ever won — until Saturday.

The Giants needed an extra inning but they got the job done, notching a 7-3 eight-inning victory over the Mustangs (34-5) to make a little bit of school history.

“It’s huge,” said pitcher Jake Rubin, who earned the win, going seven innings. “With the season we had, we didn’t expect this. But we knew we had potential and coming out against a Mundelein team like this, who is one of the top teams in the state it’s a rush. We’ve kept it going. We’ve been on a roll lately.”

Highland Park (19-18) scored all its runs on Saturday the hard way, with two outs. With the game tied 3-3 in the top of the eighth, Christian Biondi came through with the clutch double to right-center to lead off the inning and Harrison Carl followed with a single, putting runners at the corners.

“I was just looking for a pitch to hit,” Biondi said. “To be honest, I was just trying to not strike out. I was just trying to start it. I got a good pitch to hit and I just took it out to right.”

But the next two batters struck out and sophomore David Joseph was brought in to pinch hit. The youngster didn’t disappoint his coach, smashing a two-run triple to deep center field.

“I had been watching the pitcher, checking to see if he threw strikes,” Joseph said. “He had the tendency to throw first-pitch strikes so I was just going to go up there and try and hit the ball hard.”

Joseph then tried to compliment his teammates for putting him in the position to push across the go-ahead run.

“We wouldn’t have gotten here with out our teammates playing unbelievable,” Joseph said. “Adam (Kaplan) played unreal at second and Jake pitched an unbelievable game. It was fantastic.”

And Biondi repaid Joseph for his kind words with a shaving cream pie to the face — all caught on video.

Highland Park, however, wasn’t done after Joseph’s big triple.

Alec Van Cleve walked to put runners on the corners again and Daniel Oversen and Rubin added back-to-back RBI singles to give the Giants some insurance runs.

It looked like Highland Park might need them in the bottom of the frame as a pair of errors and a walk loaded the bases. But reliever Brett Shimanovsky kept his cool and pitched his way out of the jam not of his own making, getting the final batter to fly out and the celebration was on.

“We just had to get outs,” Shimanovsky said. “I was (nervous) but before the last guy I asked (catcher Jason Goldstein) to come out to the mound. I just wanted to take a breather. That’s what pitchers have to do.”

“We fought hard,” Joseph said. “We didn’t want to go down in a close game like that, put all our effort into the game and came out on top.

It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I’ve had a great time this season. The team has been great and I can’t thank anyone more than the players and coaches. It’s been a fantastic season.