Tanner Glock helps St. Francis knock off Prairie Ridge, reach quarterfinals

WHEATON – Bob McMillen knew he had a tough test in front of him.

With his St. Francis Spartans hosting Prairie Ridge, a predominant triple-option offense, McMillan knew his team had to win the early downs and get an early lead to force the Wolves to play from behind.

“It’s hard to emulate an offense like that,” McMillen said. “It’s so fast, so dynamic, so explosive. … Just how they use misdirection and hide the ball makes it very difficult.”

Despite falling behind on the game’s first drive, St. Francis built a halftime lead and its defense swarmed the Wolves after the intermission in a 30-21 victory Nov. 9 in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.

St. Francis (9-2) will head to the road for the first time this postseason. The Spartans will face No. 1 seed Sycamore (11-0) at 1 p.m. Saturday in the state quarterfinals.

St. Francis got a surprise in the Nov. 9 game when Prairie Ridge quarterback Luke Vanderwiel suited up and started for the Wolves after not playing since Week 6 of the regular season.

Vanderwiel seemed like he didn’t miss a beat, putting Prairie Ridge ahead 7-0 with a 14-yard touchdown run on the Wolves’ first possession, his first of two rushing scores on the day. The junior signal caller finished the day with 135 yards on 26 carries.

“That’s a heck of a quarterback over there,” McMillen said of Vanderwiel. “We were a little surprised to see him out there, but I thought our defense made the adjustments, especially in the second half, and made them play behind the sticks a lot. We knew if we could get them behind the sticks and out of their game to throw the ball a bit, we’d like our chances.”

The Spartans answered Vanderwiel’s opening score immediately as Zach Washington returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown.

The Spartans added an Evan Kolinski field goal and 63-yard touchdown from Tanner Glock to build a 10-point advantage.

“We knew today was going to be a grind,” said Glock, who intercepted Vanderwiel’s only pass attempt of the day late in the fourth quarter. “(Prairie Ridge) is a good team, but I think we just did a good job of staying with the game plan and being physical.”

Jack Finn (89 rushing yards) brought Prairie Ridge to within four at halftime with a rushing score just before the break.

St. Francis scored on its first two possessions to begin the second half. Quarterback Brady Palmer found Dario Milivojevic (68-yard touchdown) and Glock (10 yards) for scores to pad the Spartans’ lead.

St. Francis’ plan was in effect. The Spartans had a lead and Prairie Ridge was playing behind the sticks, a challenge the Wolves couldn’t overcome.

“I thought we had it going but then lost our footing and never really got it back,” Prairie Ridge coach Michael Frericks said. “We just had a lot of mental mistakes today that aren’t like us and it put us in a bad spot and the rest was history from there.”

Vanderwiel scored his second touchdown of the day on a 41-yard run to pull the Wolves to within nine in the final minute of the third quarter, but neither team scored in the fourth quarter and St. Francis moved on to the state quarterfinals.

“It was tough at first to be told I couldn’t play for the last four to five weeks,” Vanderwiel said. “I was glad I got to be back out there with these guys one last time. We made some mistakes and that’s on me. We had to change some things up because of (the score), but we had a great season and I love these guys.”

Palmer finished the game completing 9-of-16 passes for 231 yards and three touchdowns for St. Francis. Glock led the Spartans with 92 yards receiving.