St. Ignatius spoils Joliet West’s first home playoff game in program history

JOLIET - It was a big Friday night at Joliet West as Tigers fans packed the stands in the rain to watch the first home playoff game in program history.

St. Ignatius and junior quarterback Jack Wanzung, though, spoiled the party.

Wanzung ran for 225 yards and four touchdowns and added a touchdown pass as the 24th-seeded Wolfpack rolled to a 39-6 win over ninth-seeded Joliet West in a Class 8A first-round game.

“I felt our kids on both sides of the ball had a great week of practice and they earned the right to play on this field (Friday),” Joliet West coach Dan Tito said. “Sometimes you have a couple missteps, and when you play 8A ball and you play a team as talented as St. Ignatius, those missteps unfortunately can slow you down.

“I feel like we did some great things (Friday) and we just have to keep going.”

Juan Rico completed 16-of-37 passes for 178 yards for the Tigers (8-2), who scored on a 24-yard touchdown pass from receiver Marion Starks to Payton Turner on a trick play.

Joliet West was done in by missed opportunities offensively, reaching St. Ignatius territory on five drives but scoring just once.

“It was just a matter of finishing off our drives,” Rico said. “I think I missed some stuff. We had some dropped passes and penalties. It was just everything.”

Despite the loss, Rico appreciated what the night meant to the Joliet West football program.

“It felt great,” he said. “I was nervous all day but once I stepped out here, everything just kind of went away. Looking up at the crowd, it was nice.”

Wanzung did it all early, deflating the home crowd with his legs and his arm. After running for a 6-yard touchdown to give the Wolfpack (7-3) the lead, he threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Clement Carey to make it 12-0 with 3:16 left in the first quarter.

St. Ignatius seemed to catch the Tigers off guard by going to the air for the first time after opening the game with 12 straight runs.

Wanzung got back to the ground game, dashing for a 56-yard score with 39 seconds left in the first and adding a 37-yard touchdown run to make it 24-0 with 9:39 left in the first half.

“The blocking was there,” Wanzung said. “We made a lot of mistakes, but when I got my opportunities I took advantage to them with my teammates putting me in position to make plays.”

The Tigers tried to build some offensive momentum, getting down to the St. Ignatius 33-yard line and 15-yard line on a pair of drives, but both ended with turnovers on downs.

Joliet West finally broke through with 13 seconds left in the first half on a trick play. Rico fired a backward pass to receiver Starks, who found Turner in the back of the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown.

The fourth-down woes continued for the Tigers in the second half as they drove to the Wolfpack 21-yard line before Rico was intercepted by Jack Grisko on fourth down. On its next possession, Joliet West turned it over on downs at the St. ignatius 31-yard line.

Wanzung added his fourth touchdown run of the night on a 4-yarder, adding the two-point conversion run to extend the lead to 32-6 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter and just about dash any hopes of a Joliet West comeback.

Robbie Connor tacked on a 1-yard touchdown run for St. Ignatius.

The loss closed a memorable season for Joliet West.

“Before the game, taking it in, seeing people excited and the kids were excited, it was a unique atmosphere,” Tito said. “The next step for our program is to make that the norm.”

Stepping off the field for the last time in his Joliet West career, Rico was confident the senior class put the program in position to do just that.

“It means everything to me,” Rico said. “Coming in here freshman year, football wasn’t known for anything. We were just known for basketball. Now, talking to all the juniors, they know the standard that they have to meet next year.”