Knights win program’s fourth state title; Eatman runs for 237 yards, 4 TDs
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
The title defense is complete.
IC Catholic Prep’s football team made it two Class 3A state titles in a row with a 35-0 shutout of Pleasant Plains in the 3A championship game at Northern Illinois University’s Huskie Stadium in DeKalb.
IC Catholic Prep finished the year 13-1 and is 27-1 over the last two years.
It’s the programs fourth football state title since 2002 and second under the direction of current head coach Bill Krefft. The late Bob Cozzi directed the 2002 team to the state title and his former assistant coach Bill Schmidt was at the helm for the team’s 2008 crown.
The Knights also shutout a team for a second week in a row after whitewashing Byron 7-0 in the Class 3A state semifinals the previous week. It was the Knights’ fourth shutout of the season and eighth instance where they held an opponent to a touchdown or less in a contest. Only two teams this season managed to eclipse the 20-point barrier against them.
IC Catholic Prep ended the season scoring 632 points in 14 games while surrendering only 134 points. In the five playoff games, the Knights outscored their opponents 172-43.
In the win against Pleasant Plains, IC Catholic Prep held only a 6-0 advantage heading into halftime after Lazerick Eatman scored on a one-yard run. The two-point conversion pass failed.
However, the Knights kicked things into gear in the third quarter. Quarterback CJ West, also the team’s punter, unleashed a 59-yard punt that was downed at the Pleasant Plains 1-yard-line.
Six plays later, Pleasant Plains, from its own 3-yard-line, punted only 15 yards which gave IC Catholic Prep excellent field position leading to West’s 19-yard-touchdown run off a quarterback draw. Eatman ran in the two-point score to give the Knights a 14-0 lead with 5:19 to play in the stanza.
After another Pleasant Plains punt, Eatman scored his second TD of the game on a 1-yard run over left end. The score was set up by a West to Sean Hipskind screen pass for nine yards and an Eatman 44-yard run to the left. Joey Maci’ gerace’s extra point made it 21-0.
Yet another Pleasant Plains punt, facilitated in part by a Dylan Packer sack, preceded Eatman’s third touchdown of the game via a 15-yard run with nine seconds to play in the third. During the possession, Eatman had runs of 12 and 46 yards. Maci’ gerace’s PAT put the Knights up 28-0 heading into the fourth quarter.
Eatman’s fourth touchdown came via a nine-yard run up the middle with 7:24 left in the game. During that drive, Eatman also had runs of 15, 11 and 15 yards.
Pleasant Plains had 13 possessions in the game with nine ending via punt, two via interception and one via a missed field goal (the other was the end of the game).
Eatman finished the day with 24 rushes for 237 yards and the four touchdowns. He had a long run of 56 yards and averaged 9.9 yards per carry. IC Catholic Prep gained 249 yards on the ground (6.1 yards per carry).
West completed 9 of 11 passes for 110 yards. Jacob Lytton caught four passes for 60 yards, while Khalil Saunders caught three passes for 28 yards. Khali Saunders caught one pass for 13 yards, while Hipskind had the nine-yard reception.
On defense, Khalil Saunders and Max Cook each had an interception. Kemon Reese led the IC Catholic Prep defense with 11 tackles. Khali Saunders and Kevin Cooke each had 10 tackles. Saunders had two tackles for loss. Cooke, Khalil Saunders, Ricky Mysliwiec, Michael Johnson and Packer each had one tackle for loss. Johnson and Packer each had a quarterback sack.
Pleasant Plains was limited to 155 yards of total offense. IC Catholic Prep had 359 yards of total offense.
Eatman finished the season with 1,514 rushing yards and 23 rushing touchdowns. West finished with 1,941 passing yards with 24 touchdowns against only five interceptions.
IC Catholic Prep ended up averaging 455.9 yards of total offense this season, while its 14 opponents were held to an average of 171.9 yards of total offense.
Krefft moves to 55-16 in his six seasons at the helm at IC Catholic Prep. Five of his teams have made the playoffs and over the last three years his squads have gone 38-3 and 13-1 in the playoffs. In those 14 playoff games, IC Catholic Prep outscored its opponents by a combined score of 569-139 (or an average of 40.6 to 9.9).
It’s also the second year in a row IC Catholic Prep shutout its opponent in the Class 3A state-championship game. Last year, Carlinville fell victim to the Knights to the tune of a 43-0 loss.
Looking into the future and of note, IC Catholic Prep’s athletics website has posted what looks to be the Knights’ 2018 schedule that includes a vastly different slate of games in light of the Metro Suburban Conference’s impending realignment and welcoming in of various new teams to the conference.
According to that website, IC Catholic Prep’s first two non-conference opponents of the season in 2018 will be against downstate Belleville Althoff Catholic (9-2 this season, second round of playoffs) on the road in Week 1 and against Joliet Catholic Academy (3-6 this season) at home in Week 2.
The Knights, according to the website, then would face Wheaton Academy (4-5) on the road in Week 3 followed by a visit from a familiar face in Bishop McNamara (which joins the conference next season) in Week 4. McNamara went 3-6 this year and was 4-5 two years ago, including a loss to IC Catholic Prep.
The rest of the schedule in order includes Aurora Christian (away, 5-5 first-round of playoffs), Aurora Central Catholic (away, 5-4 this season), St. Edward (away, 5-4 this season), St Francis (home, 1-8 this season) and Riverside-Brookfield (home, 8-2, second round of the playoffs)
