A weakness was exposed, a possible glitch in the system, a reason to suspect that No. 1 Loyola is not the same machine that won the Class 8A championship game by a score of 41-0 some nine months ago.
The 43 points and 401 passing yards Maine South hung on the Ramblers were unprecedented in the decade they’ve been coached by John Holecek, who’s been concerned about his secondary since training camp.
His offense was still one point better, and Loyola will take a 19-game winning streak into its showdown with No. 4 Mount Carmel at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Gately Stadium. In this week’s AP polls, the Ramblers are No. 1 in 8A and the Caravan are No. 1 in 7A.
Holecek is 6-5 overall and has won four of his last five against the Caravan and Frank Lenti, who holds an 11-1 edge in state championships against his coaching counterpart and a state-record 359 victories. Lenti most certainly will not stray from his trusty option offense to follow Maine South’s blueprint.
“I’m not figuring we are going to throw for 400 yards against John’s defense,” Lenti said. “We will try to figure out a way to move the ball a little.”
Above quotation aside, Lenti isn’t downplaying his team as much as he often does this time of year, perhaps because more attention is being paid toward others, like Loyola for instance.
While the Caravan have given Lenti nothing to complain about through two weeks, the schedule hasn’t given him any real teachable moments either.
Mount Carmel defeated Taft 49-7 and Gary (Ind.) West Side 56-6, learning little about what it needs to work on in the process.
“It is hard to tell because we haven’t played the level of competition,” Lenti said. “Loyola played Maine South, who is very good. We end up playing a team from Gary because we couldn’t get any 8A schools to play us Week 2.
“There are positives and negatives. The positive for us is we’re probably a little healthier. The negative is they are battle-tested and we are not yet.”
“I know our offense can score,” Holecek said, “but I’d rather be rested and holding up all the tricks and gearing up for them.”
Lenti possesses the kind of Jake Marwede trick Loyola already revealed, and his name is Alek Thomas.
Thomas, a 5-10, 165-pound junior, is Mount Carmel’s answer to the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Marwede, who lines up at receiver, tight end, quarterback and running back and threw an option pass for a 77-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage against Maine South.
Also among the best baseball prospects in Illinois, Thomas is a versatile threat and one of three quarterbacks Lenti has used along with senior Dan Trudeau and junior Jack Bracewell.
It sounds like that may continue.
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“It is not even a competition,” Lenti said. “It is good to play at least two of them in every game. It is like having a fastball and a change up. They do different things well. It is going to force people to prepare for different types of quarterbacks.
“You can have Alek Thomas one play catching a pass, and on the next play he can be throwing the pass. He could play running back too.”
Mike Helfgot is a freelance reporter for the baiduhai.
No. 1 Loyola at No. 4 Mount Carmel
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday at Gately Stadium.
2015: Loyola won 49-21 in Week 9.