Inspired by football team, Ridgewood basketball team makes playoff run

The Ridgewood football team earned its first playoff berth since 2002 in the fall, and last week the Rebels boys basketball team won its first regional title since 2012.

The run of success continued on Tuesday, March 8, when fourth-seeded Ridgewood upended top-seeded North Chicago 53-49 in the Class 3A Ridgewood Sectional semifinals to advance to the sectional championship on Friday, March 11. The Rebels haven’t won a sectional title in school history.

Alex Rice, a junior, is a member of both the Ridgewood football and boys basketball teams.

“I think football set the bar for the school,” Rice said. “I think it set everything up. So the football program having success set up the winter sports to go out and have some success.”

Rebels senior guard Keith Kerrigan agreed with Rice.

“That’s definitely a motivation, I feel,” Kerrigan said of the football team’s success. “When we saw them make the playoffs and it hasn’t been done in 13 years, that really put a precursor on our season because we didn’t want to just be normal coming into the season. We felt with the talent we had at the beginning of the season, we could do this. We just all needed to come together. I think the football season really did help us because we were at all those games and showing our team spirit, so that really helped us.”

Rice saw similarities between Ridgewood’s come-from-behind victory in the sectional semifinals and a 31-23 win over St. Edward on Friday, Oct. 9, 2015, in the de-facto Metro Suburban East championship game for football. The Rebels handed the Green Wave its only Metro Suburban East loss. Ridgewood came back from a 21-7 first-quarter deficit to win against St. Edward and similarly the Rebels erased a nine-point, fourth-quarter deficit versus North Chicago.

“I think the similarity is that it shows how tough we are as a school whether it’s football or basketball,” Rice said. “It shows the toughness and resiliency from both programs. We were down in football and then we were down here. So it shows us as a school that we’re strong and we come together and get the job done.”

It’s not yet known who Ridgewood will play on Friday, March 11. Second-seeded St. Patrick and eighth-seeded Antioch are scheduled to play at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 9, in the other sectional semifinal. Regardless of the opponent, Kerrigan said the sectional final will be a big deal.

“I think it would mean a whole lot to the school as a whole body (to win),” Kerrigan said. “I think we’re getting a lot more fans to come to our games. And it wouldn’t just mean something to the school. We’re a small town and we are all just working together. I think that would mean a lot to the whole town and not just the school. I think a lot of people from the town have been coming to our games and supporting us, so I really appreciate that. So hopefully we can get them a sectional championship.”

Junior guard Zac Rzewnicki is aware of the basketball success of nearby private schools St. Patrick and Notre Dame and thinks a sectional championship will bolster Ridgewood’s standing. Notre Dame beat top-seeded Evanston on Tuesday, March 8, and advanced to the Class 4A Glenbrook South Sectional final. The Dons have won five regional titles in the last eight years. The school’s lone sectional title came in 1997. St. Patrick won a sectional title last year, the school’s third, and was won three straight regional titles.

“(A sectional championship) puts a mark on history and it puts our school on the map,” Rzewnicki said. “You see Notre Dame and St. Pat’s get it done a lot and now if we get it done, we show that we’re just as good as them. They’re private schools and they can get whoever they want, but we show if we work together even with smaller kids and not the same height and strength, we’re going to get it done too. It’s not about skill. It’s about heart.”

Game notes

* Ridgewood trailed North Chicago 41-32 early in the fourth quarter. But the Rebels went on an 18-3 run to take a 50-44 lead. Rzewnicki scored 13 points during the run and finished with a team-high 21 points. Kerrigan scored 20 points.

“On our offensive end, we just needed to slow down because they were trying to rush us with the pressure,” Kerrigan said. “We haven’t seen pressure like that in awhile, so once we slowed ourselves down, things got better on our end for the offense.”

Todd Marver is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.

Twitter @todd_marver