NORMAL, Ill. — A new era of Loyola football began this season. The Ramblers debuted in August with a rookie head coach and a quarterback that had never taken a varsity snap. On Saturday in Normal the Ramblers’ season ended with a familiar result: a victory against Lincoln-Way East in the Class 8A state championship.
Loyola beat the Griffins 26-15 at ISU’s Hancock Stadium to win its fifth state title.
Last year, coach John Holecek and quarterback Jack Stearney lead the way to the championship. This season it was coach Beau Desherow and quarterback Ryan Fitzgerald.
“It’s all on the coaches,” Fitzgerald said. “They got us prepared every single week. This team is putting so much time and effort in. We knew we might struggle at the start but once we got in a groove we just didn’t look back.”
Fitzgerald was responsible for all of the Ramblers’ three touchdowns in the first half. He connected with Brendan Loftus for a 15-yard TD and found Nicholas Arogundade for a 32-yard TD pass late.
Lincoln-Way East quarterback Braden Tischer was 10-for-10 passing in the first half. His two-yard TD pass to Trey Zvonar on a fourth down late in the first half cut Loyola’s lead to 13-7 but that was as close as the Griffins (13-1) would get.
“We knew that our offense was going to be younger and we would have to rely on a veteran defense,” Desherow said. “But after that first game I knew we had something here.”
Fitzgerald, the son of former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald, spread the ball around with completions to seven different receivers. He was 17-for-21 for 203 yards with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. Fitzgerald was also a threat on the ground with 16 carries for 89 yards and a touchdown.
Junior Drew MacPherson had 15 carries for 117 yards and scored a touchdown in the second half for the Ramblers (14-0). He picked up an injury in the semifinal against York and didn’t practice until Thursday.
“Coach said before the game that if we had anything left in the tank we didn’t give enough,” MacPherson said. “There were a lot of great blocks from the receivers.”
Loyola has ended four of the Griffins’ last five playoff runs. The Ramblers beat Lincoln-Way East 13-3 in the title game last season.
Tischer finished 18-for-26 for 165 yards and two TDs. Senior wide receiver Ryan Usher had five catches for 61 yards.
Griffins running back Nuri Muhammad had nine carries for 38 yards.
“The sadness about this will last for a little while but when it wears off [our players] are going to realize they experienced a lot of special things,” Lincoln-Way East coach Rob Zvonar said. “They have represented our community and high school football in general in an exemplary manner.”
Check back later for more, including reaction from the players and coaches.
