After seven weeks of its 2015 Class 8A championship season, Loyola had allowed a total of 38 points.
Maine South topped those seven teams by itself Saturday, still lost a 44-43 thriller to the No. 1 Ramblers and came out a winner despite the loss.
Persistent whispers of Maine South’s demise over the last several years kind of seem ridiculous now, for another year anyway, following a 44-13 victory over Montini and the unprecedented success against a John Holecek Loyola defense.
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Quarterback Nick Leongas and running back Fotis Kokosioulis drew praise from Holecek, and Michigan State recruit Kevin Jarvis may be the best offensive lineman in the state.
The Hawks clearly answered the questions about their continued status as an elite program.
Loyola, meanwhile, didn’t quite lose for winning, but alarm bells are sounding because of how out of character the Maine South outburst was.
An offseason injury to safety Ted Falkenhayn has had Holecek worried about his secondary since training camp, and graduated All-State DL Ben LeRoy (NIU) isn’t around to disrupt a significant percentage of plays before they get started.
Loyola was so dominant last season that it can probably afford to take a step back defensively and still repeat in 8A.
Holecek doesn’t expect to be quite as good physically, but the mental breakdowns concern him heading into Friday night’s Catholic Blue showdown with No. 4 Mount Carmel.
“They (Maine South) are obviously really good,” Holecek said. “Six 50-yard plays shouldn’t happen if you play the right call. Mental errors just killed us. We made so many mental mistakes and they took advantage the way good teams do.
“Physically, we’re not as powerful as we were but I think we can do the job. We’ve just got to be a lot better with communication and knowledge of the scheme.”
Getting Mount Carmel now, untested physically following a couple of easy victories, might not be a bad thing.
Like Maine South, Mount Carmel plays chess, but the Caravan don’t play the speed version at the line of scrimmage.
Mount Carmel has a huge offensive line and may be able to push Loyola around a little. I can’t remember the last time I picked against Loyola, though, and I’m not convinced now is a good time to start.
Let’s call it Loyola 34, Mount Carmel 30 and look for both teams in Champaign on Thanksgiving weekend.
No. 2 Lincoln-Way East (2-0) vs. No. 5 Homewood-Flossmoor (2-0): Lincoln-Way East has a ton of good players and should only get stronger as other teams weaken through injury and wear and tear. The question is whether the Griffins’ sheer volume means more than the high-end talent H-F continues to put on the field. The answer is I have no idea, so I’ll stick to my rankings. Lincoln-Way East 31-28.
No. 7 Waubonsie Valley (2-0) vs. No. 8 Neuqua Valley (2-0): It kinda felt like the wrong team won the Waubonsie-Glenbard North game last week, but Waubonsie is an exciting young team nevertheless. Junior QB Tanner Westwood flashed a little It Factor, and junior TE Charles Robinson might be the best prospect college coaches aren’t fawning over. Maybe Waubonsie is on its way to a magic year. Or maybe the law of averages works quickly. Neuqua Valley 24-21.
Mike Helfgot is a freelance reporter for the baiduhai.