More than 43 points per game.
That was Oswego East football team’s average output in 10 games before it faced host Loyola Academy in a Class 8A second-round playoff game on Nov. 5.
LA’s Ramblers limited East’s Wolves to a 42-yard field goal in their 22-3 victory in Wilmette. The visitors got close — fourth-and-goal-from-the-one close, early in the second quarter — but ended up turning the ball over on downs on a rushing attempt that went nowhere.
Ramblers senior inside linebacker Anthony Romano and a sea of other maroon-and-gold-clad defenders stuffed University of Iowa recruit Ivory Kelly-Martin for no gain on the pivotal stop of the sunny, warm afternoon. LA had owned an 8-0 lead at the time.
“That was a ‘want’ play, everybody wanting to get in on that tackle,” LA senior outside linebacker Mickey Kane said.
Any school would want a Jake Marwede on its football team. Loyola Academy’s Duke-bound all-everything rushed for three touchdowns (eight yards and a pair of seven-yarders), ran for a two-point conversion and caught a two-point conversion from senior quarterback Tommy Herion (10 of 13, 113 yards) against the Wolves (9-2). The wide receiver/tight end lined up often in the backfield to take direct snaps, rushing eight times for 64 yards. It appeared he had broken at least 15 tackles (slight exaggeration) during a 23-yard rush on the play before his third TD.
“One of the most talented [high school] football players I’ve ever seen,” said Ramblers coach John Holecek, whose boys of autumn led 16-3 at the half. “Unbelievable. We ask Jake to do a lot, put him in a lot of positions, and all I try to do is manage him, in order to keep him healthy.”
LA senior running back Kyle Rock ran 18 times for a team-best 74 yards. Classmate David Terrell paced the team in receiving, catching five balls for 66 yards.
On the other side of the ball, junior defensive back Anthony Rodriguez and senior Ryan Lin-Peistrup each came down with an interception. Linemen Marty Geary, Vito Cannizzaro and Omar Mendez, along with Romano, Kane and senior linebacker Graham Repp, applied either constant pressure on Oswego East senior quarterback Jaylon Banks or thwarted the Wolves’ running attack for most of the afternoon.
First-seeded LA (11-0) visits Huntley (8-3), seeded 24th, in a state quarterfinal next weekend. Huntley defeated Fremd 38-30, also on Nov. 5.