Loyola prevails over plucky Marist

CHICAGO – The question going into Saturday’s 8A second-round playoff game was simple: Could Marist’s offense hang with Loyola’s high-octane attack?

The answer: For three quarters, it could. After that, thanks to a couple of major miscues, the Ramblers took just enough command to eke out a 24-20 victory in Mount Greenwood.

“It was a roller-coaster,” said Ramblers quarterback Ryan Fitzgerald.

Loyola (9-2) plays Maine South (7-4) in next week’s 8A quarterfinal.

The two offenses combined for 706 yards, 434 in a rollicking first half. Marist quarterback Jake Ritter, who accounted for 299 offensive yards (166 yards rushing and a touchdown in 23 carries, plus a 13-of-19, 133-yard two-touchdown passing effort), didn’t throw an incompletion until 9:53 remained in the fourth quarter.

Fitzgerald, meanwhile, went 18 of 25 for 202 yards, with a pair of touchdown passes to Gavin Vradenberg. Fitzgerald was 13 of 17 in the first half, but wanted more.

“I’m a little disappointed with my leading ability,” Fitzgerald said. “I didn’t do a good enough job leading the offense in the first half. Two plays (that didn’t convert) inside the 30 in the first half were on me.

“We adjusted at halftime,” he said. “A lot was working, and that was the tough thing. It was just attacking where their weak spots were. It was mostly attacking with an empty (backfield) and letting me and my receivers choose the routes, taking the best play.”

That worked in the final quarter, when Fitzgerald found Vradenberg on an 11-yard touchdown strike with 9:32 to play and a 21-20 lead. Zak Zeman’s 32-yard field goal with 2:41 remaining set the four-point advantage. Marist’s final drive stalled at the Loyola 44.

For all the fireworks on a day with dingy overcast skies and a smattering of sprinkles, the game came down to a quartet of critical plays:

• Drew MacPherson’s 49-yard punt return to the Marist 1, setting up Loyola’s first touchdown for a 7-6 lead in the first quarter.

• Ritter, with Marist leading 20-14, failing to get a first down on fourth-and-1 on the Redhawks’ first drive of the second half.

• Loyola’s Micky Maher blocking the punt of Marist’s Michael Flynn on the Redhawks’ next series, giving the Ramblers the ball on the Marist 38.

• Fitzgerald’s 3-yard rush on fourth-and-1 on the ensuing drive, which kept it alive and set up his second touchdown pass to Vradenberg.

If perhaps two of those four go the other way, it’s Marist that’s getting ready for Maine South next weekend. But they all went in Loyola’s favor, and the sky-high Ramblers barely needed the bus to get back to their Wilmette home.

“We just found a way to get points,” Vradenberg said. “The second touchdown (reception) was designed for someone else to not get open to get me open. That’s what our team is about. We played a phenomenal game against a very good rough-nosed team.”

For the Redhawks, the tears fell harder than the drizzle, especially for the seniors.

“We should have won that game,” said Cornell-bound Marist running back John McAuliffe (12 carries, 62 yards). “We expected to win. We made simple mistakes. Our defense played great, but we got shut out in the second half, and that can’t happen.”

Fitzgerald, thinking like his coaching father Pat, was already thinking about the quarterfinal with Maine South.

“I know they have a great quarterback in Jameson Purcell, the sophomore,” he said. “They’re a really good football team. It’s going to be a battle.”