Jake Marwede hurdles over defenders during second-round playoff game. PHOTOGRAPHY BY GEORGE PFOERTNER
One Oswego East Wolf tried to slow Loyola Academy senior Jake Marwede in a football playoff game last weekend.
Another Wolf tried.
Two others made an attempt together, one hanging on to a Marwede leg while being dragged for two, three … five yards. The 6-foot-5, 240-pound Duke recruit kept churning, kept shedding defenders, kept gaining yards until he was finally stopped after a 23-yard trip. Head-shaking onlookers didn’t know whether to laugh or scream, “Not fair!” near the end of LA’s 22-3 home victory in a Class 8A second-rounder on Nov. 5.You’ve seen the home videos, of tots and their neighborhood friends trying desperately to bring down a big, football-toting dad in a back yard game of Lilliputians vs. Gulliver.
A fun challenge, yes.
A futile one, too.
“Trust me, Jake has been running over players since I can remember, since his days as a quarterback [early in his career],” Ramblers senior outside linebacker Mickey Kane said. “Jake, when he’s in our ‘jumbo’ package … .”
Marwede, a Lake Forest resident, is listed as a tight end/wide receiver on Loyola Academy’s roster. What he did against Oswego East: rushed for touchdown runs of eight, seven and seven yards; ran for a two-point conversion; and caught a two-point conversion from senior quarterback Tommy Herion.
Twenty-two points, one Rambler.
He finished with 64 yards rushing, on only eight carries, and he caught a 10-yard pass.
“Two-minute drill, in practice, we go at it,” Loyola Academy junior defensive back Anthony Rodriguez said. “Jake helps me, helps our defense. He’s a big guy, capable of making cuts — cuts you normally don’t see from a guy as big as he is. That [23-yard] run he had today, he broke five, maybe six, tackles.”
Marwede being Marwede, he smiled embarrassingly at compliments directed at him and quickly deflected the attention, guiding the postgame conversations to Loyola Academy’s defense and offensive line.
“The defense,” Marwede said, “played a wonderful game. It made key stops and interceptions [one by Rodriguez, the other by senior DB Ryan Lin-Peistrup]. Our line did a great job. Everybody did their jobs today.
“We were focused on this game, only this game. The 8A bracket is solid, stacked with great teams. We take nothing for granted each week. We don’t let up … all that good stuff.”
Loyola Academy’s defensive line stuffed Oswego East senior running back Ivory Kelly-Martin, a University of Iowa recruit, on a fourth-and-goal early in the second quarter, LA owning an 8-0 lead. Ramblers senior linebacker Anthony Romano and a sea of other maroon-and-gold-clad defenders stopped the future Hawkeye. Cold. On a balmy day in November.
Oswego East (9-2) had entered the game averaging 43 points per game.
“It [LA’s offense] has carried us often this season,” Kane, a hard-nosed linebacker who plays an infectious brand of football, said. “It was nice to be a part of a defense that came ready to play. We showed up. We played well.
“That was a ‘want’ play [goal-line stop], everybody wanting to get in on that tackle,” he added.
Ramblers coach John Holecek also received inspiring, hard-hitting efforts from linemen Marty Geary, Vito Cannizzaro and Omar Mendez, along with senior linebacker Graham Repp and senior cornerback Ian Swenson. Swenson made a TD-saving tackle in the third quarter, catching up to Wolves senior tight end Colin O’Reilly at the end of a 69-yard catch-and-run. The play ended at the Ramblers’ five-yard line.
Rodriguez tipped a pass on a third-and-goal shortly thereafter, and Oswego East’s kicker missed a 26-yard field-goal attempt.
“We came to play,” Holecek said. “We got their offense off the field when we needed to, when it counted. That Big Ten kid [Kelly-Martin] runs hard, runs fast, runs downhill. Limiting him was a key to the game. Their running game … it’s not easy to stop.”
Marwede’s running game?
Marwede’s receiving game?
Marwede’s game in two-point-conversion situations?
Not easy to stop. Not easy to stop. Not easy to stop.
“One of the most talented [high school] football players I’ve ever seen,” said 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.”
Reigning 8A state champion Loyola Academy (11-0), seeded No. 1, travels to 24th-seeded Huntley (8-3) for a state quarterfinal game on Nov. 12, beginning at 1 p.m.
Notable: LA senior quarterback Tommy Herion completed 10 of 19 passes for 113 yards in the playoff win last weekend, with classmate and wideout David Terrell (five catches, 66 yards) emerging as his favorite target. Ramblers senior running back Kyle Rock (18 carries, 74 yards) paced the victors’ rushing attack.
Jake Marwede hits a hole in second-round playoff win. PHOTOGRAPHY BY GEORGE PFOERTNER