Kyle Rock of the Ramblers finds running room in the state title game. He rushed for 154 yards. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER
Kyle Rock sat behind a microphone at a table last weekend, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but the press-box lounge area above Memorial Stadium on the University of Illinois campus in Champaign. But the good soldier in him had obeyed the order to be present and react to something from the past.
The recent past.
The Loyola Academy senior running back and his teammates had just lost 27-17 to Maine South in the Class 8A state championship football game on Nov. 26. A teammate sat to Rock’s right, several others to his left. Ramblers coach John Holecek had nestled himself on a chair near the middle of the table.
“Chicago,” a straight-faced, dead-serious Rock uttered for all to hear, his dejection palpable and understandable. (Each of the five Ramblers had been asked to announce his hometown for the journalists in attendance.)
LA, reigning state champion, was the top seed of the 8A bracket, the clear favorite, the victor in the teams’ regular-season meeting (44-43, on Sept. 3), winners of 30 straight games. Maine South was the No. 26 seed, a three-loss squad, the underdog, Rocky Balboa to Apollo Creed in the first Rocky movie.
As the press conference continued, Rock changed his expression, slightly. Straight-faced and dead-serious turned into oh-so-steely and oh-so-determined, what Maine South linemen and linebackers and defensive backs must have noticed whenever Rock cradled the football and churned, churned, churned atop a Big Ten field last weekend. The 5-foot-10, 175-pound Rock rushed for 154 yards on 21 carries, his third tote resulting in an explosive 56-yard touchdown at 8:17 of the first quarter. Rock also caught four Tommy Herion passes for 40 yards. His combined number of receptions, in LA’s previous 13 games: 10.
“A very hard runner, a tough player,” said Maine South senior safety Jack Hoffman, who intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble in the title game. “[Rock] is versatile, too, capable of bouncing to the inside or the outside behind a great bunch of linemen.
“That name of his, Rock … kind of catchy,” the Hawk added.
Rock and junior running back Hamid Bullie had shared the bulk of the Ramblers’ rushing duties before Bullie (610 yards, 6.9 yards per carry) suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week Nine, against Brother Rice. Rock welcomed the added responsibility thereafter, savored it, scooting for seven touchdowns in five playoff games, including three in a first-round 42-14 defeat of O’Fallon on Oct. 29. He finished with 1,282 rushing yards and 19 rushing TDs in 2016, averaging nearly 169 yards in the Ramblers’ last three postseason games.
“Not the biggest back, as you can see,” Holecek said of Rock. “But he had the ability to cut well, and he gave us everything he had on every play. Pound for pound, one of the toughest guys we had this year.”
Loyola Academy senior and Duke University recruit Jake Marwede stands 6-5, weighs 240 pounds. The tight end/wide receiver/occasional quarterback is tough and talented, a game-changing threat each time his massive mitts handled pigskin this fall. Maine South (11-3) limited Mr. Marwede — an Illinois Football Coaches Association first-team all-state pick — to one catch (25 yards) and 16 yards on eight carries. His one-yard TD run and senior Patrick Kramer’s extra point gave LA (13-1) a 14-10 lead with 13 seconds left in the first half.
“Maine South,” Marwede said, “made plays when it needed to make them. Maine South played well.”
Sean McNulty played superb football. His job titles as a gridder? If there were such a thing as a Maine South football business card, McNulty’s would have to be continued on the back. McNulty, a 6-1, 211-pound senior, punted, kicked, blocked (as a right tackle) and tackled (as an outside linebacker) in his final prep game. He kicked two field goals (25 and 18 yards) and four touchbacks, kaboomed a Class 8A state championship record 66-yard punt, helped Hawks ball carriers average 4.8 yards per carry and finished with three tackles, one for a one-yard loss.
“Their kicker was phenomenal,” Holecek said. “What a weapon, wow.
“We got beat. It was new to us. Painful. We just didn’t do enough to win.”
Loyola Academy outgained Maine South 374-306 in total yards but tallied only a field goal (a 34-yarder, from Kramer) in the second half. Maine South produced a TD pass, a TD run and a field goal in the second half to secure its sixth state championship in program history and fourth in nine years; LA was going for its third.
Herion was 11-of-19 passing for 159 yards, five of his completions (totaling 76 yards) landing in the hands of Ramblers senior wideout David Terrell. His 17-yard reception at the Maine South one-yard line set up Marwede’s TD run.
Senior inside linebackers Anthony Romano (two sacks) and Graham Repp paced LA in tackles (nine each). Romano recorded two other tackles for loss, and junior lineman Marty Geary dropped South senior quarterback Nick Leongas for another sack. Ramblers senior cornerback Ian Swenson finished with six tackles, half of them as a special teamer.
“We didn’t feel any pressure to win,” Swenson said, adding last year’s edition had also entered the Class 8A state title game with an undefeated record, before thumping Marist 41-0. “Maine South played a good game. [Leongas and junior running back Fotis Kokosioulis, 106 rushing yards] played well. Their kicker … he was everywhere.
“This was tough,” he added. “Our seniors hadn’t lost a game since freshman year.”
LA’s seniors went 6-3 as freshmen, 9-0 as sophomores and 14-0 as juniors. They’ll graduate with a four-year mark of 42-4, a winning percentage of .913. Grade-A stuff.
Rock, still in his uniform and still sporting a no-nonsense look, stood up after the press conference, walked resolutely toward an elevator and stopped when a couple of journalists wanted to ask a few more questions. He fielded each like an accommodating pro would.
“I thought we played well, just not 100 percent of the time,” he said. “We usually click on all cylinders all of the time.
“Our work ethic — that’s what I’m going to remember about this team. Everybody on this team knows how to win. Everybody is passionate about the game.”
Rock also plays hockey for the school. The offensive standout on the gridiron plays defense on ice. He had to miss Loyola Gold’s first 17 games, a commitment to football his perfect excuse. The hockey team is 15-2.
“I’ll rest for a few days, maybe a week, and then start playing hockey,” Rock said.
What opposing hockey forwards must be thinking: Take your time, Kyle. Please.