There was always a belief.

Nazareth believed.

Despite trailing for almost all of Saturday’s Class 6A quarterfinal against Lake Zurich, Nazareth never lost its belief.

The Roadrunners believed even trailing by two scores with under three minutes to play.

The belief became a reality as Jackson Failla found Trenton Walker for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:23 to play as Nazareth completed its comeback in a thrilling 24-21 victory over Lake Zurich to advance to the 6A semifinals Saturday at Dennis Moran Field in LaGrange Park.

“I’ve honestly never experienced something like that,” said Walker, who recorded all six of his catches for 73 yards after halftime. “To be able to keep our composure in a situation that stressful shows what this team is made of.

“[Coach Tim Racki] continues to tell us every week how special this team is. We truly believe that, and we know that anything can happen. We just had to keep going and always had the belief that a miracle could happen.”

Trailing 21-9 with no timeouts left and in desperate need of possession back with just over three minutes to play, Nazareth (11-1) took advantage of a Lake Zurich personal foul penalty that made a potential decision for Lake Zurich coach Ron Planz on fourth-and-short turn into a punt.

Henry Sakalas blocked the ensuing punt – the second blocked punt of the game for Nazareth – to set up the Roadrunners at the Lake Zurich 31-yard line. After a Charles Calhoun 7-yard touchdown catch, all eyes turned to Frankie Nichols with 2:36 on the game clock.

“He’s our Swiss army knife,” Racki said of Nichols. “He does a little bit of everything for us and we know we can count on him in any situation.”

Nichols lined up for the onside kick, which he bounced off a Lake Zurich defender and into the hands of Nazareth’s Cash Coleman.

Six plays later, Failla found Walker for the game-winning touchdown as the Roadrunners slammed the door on Lake Zurich’s final possession.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been that stressed out while still maintaining my poise,” Racki said. “We talk about going a full [48 minutes]. It’s one thing to say it and it’s another thing to go and do it. We kept believing that we would make the plays we needed when it mattered, and we were able to do that.”

“[Nazareth] took advantage of some opportunities and we didn’t,” Planz said. “[Nazareth] is a really good football team and we knew that coming in. Our guys wanted to prove that they were a really good football team too. I think we proved that today, but anytime you have two good teams playing each other, it’s always going to come down to the wire.”

Lake Zurich (9-3) jumped out to an early 14-0 advantage on long touchdown runs from Kaden Abrantes (69 yards) and Chris Chang (42 yards) to stun the top-seeded Roadrunners just seven minutes into Saturday’s game.

Nazareth hung around thanks to a touchdown run from Justin Watson and a 29-yard field goal from Billy Harding, but the Roadrunners trailed 21-9 at halftime as Brock Rubicz scored from 3 yards out for the Bears in the final minute of the second quarter.

“This team is so special, and we never stop believing that anything can happen until that clock hits zero,” Nichols said. “There is just a trust in this program from top to bottom, from every coach and every player. … Everyone out there isn’t playing for themselves. They’re playing for the guy next to them and their brothers. A game like today just shows us that literally anything is possible.”

Neither team scored in the second half until Nazareth’s two touchdowns in the final minutes to clinch the victory.

Failla completed just 13-of-26 passes overall but connected on his final six pass attempts to help the Roadrunners advance to the final four in Class 6A.

Lake Zurich was led offensively by Abrantes, who finished the day with 20 carries for 120 yards in a losing effort.

Nazareth will host No. 11 seed Fenwick (9-3) next week in another bid to keep its hope alive for a fourth consecutive state title.

https://www.shawlocal.com/friday-night-drive/2025/11/16/nazareth-scores-twice-in-final-3-minutes-to-rally-past-lake-zurich-into-6a-semifinals/