Nazareth’s Julian Love scored a touchdown in the Class 6A football state championship game and verbally committed to Notre Dame in the spring, but another memory from the past year remains especially unforgettable for the two-way standout from Westchester.
Love can recall every detail from his 74-yard touchdown run on Nov. 1, 2014, when he scored the first touchdown in the first home night game in Nazareth history. Love’s touchdown, which came on Nazareth’s third play from scrimmage, was the first of three TDs for Love that day when the Roadrunners beat Rockford Boylan 56-27 in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs.
Love hopes to enjoy more touchdowns at home night games this season. Nazareth plans to install permanent lights for Valenta Stadium next week and already has scheduled four home night games this season — starting with the East Suburban Catholic opener against St. Patrick on Friday, Sept. 11. Through a noise variance with the village of LaGrange Park, Nazareth officials are allowed to schedule five home games that are expected to finish after 10 p.m. The administration saved one more home night game date for a possible playoff game.
The limited dates were made as part of an agreement with Nazareth and its neighbors along Edgewood Avenue in LaGrange Park. Several homes on that street have backyards that align with a running track that separates a fence from the far sidelines of Valenta Stadium. With permission to hold only the five night games, Nazareth officials decided to play their first home game against Leo on Saturday, Sept. 5.
“I hope we [eventually] can practice at night,” Love said. “This is a great thing for the community and for the school itself. Friday Night Lights is a great thing. Playing on Saturday is not the high school experience. Everyone wants to play Friday Night Lights. That’s what high school is.”
In Nazareth’s first night game last season, Love scored touchdowns on each of his first three touches in the game. He scored on a 48-yard TD run later in the first quarter and added a 21-yard TD run in the second quarter to give the Roadrunners a 42-0 lead. Love had four carries for 155 yards.
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“I remember that first play perfectly,” Love said. “It was Jet Right. I was the wide receiver that came around to get the ball from Jonah [Beauduy at quarterback]. Guard Mike Owens pulled. Ryan Kramer had a crack block on the linebacker. I saw one guy, made him miss and hit the sideline.”
Love loves the idea of Friday night games since his parents, D.T. and Ivonne Love, sometimes work on Saturdays. Nazareth becomes the last East Suburban Catholic school to add lights.
The lights also eliminate the nearly 16-hour workdays each Sunday for coach Tim Racki and his staff. Racki and his coaches report to school every Sunday morning after a home game to review video from the previous game and install the game plan for the Roadrunners’ next opponent for Monday’s practice. Now coaching staff members will be able spend Sundays with their families.
“Everybody is through the roof,” Racki said. “They are super, super excited. There is nothing like it after getting a taste of it last year.”
Nazareth President Dennis Moran said the cost of adding lights came through the school’s current $13 million fundraising campaign toward capital projects.
“Every conference game should be a night game,” Moran said. “The student body is excited. The student-athletes are excited and the parents are excited.”
Twitter @geomwilcox