Francis Ruettiger is the strength and conditioning coach of the Joliet Catholic Hilltoppers. Francis’ brother, Dan, was immortalized in the film “Rudy” about a pint-sized nobody who made the Notre Dame Fighting Irish as a walk-on.
There weren’t many Rudy-looking guys on the Hilltoppers Saturday at Ken Leonard Field. A team with many hulking, well-muscled players, the Hilltoppers squashed Sacred Heart-Griffin 49-0 to advance to the Class 5A quarterfinals. The Cyclones, whose season ended at 6-5, just didn’t have the size and strength to compete with Joliet Catholic.
“We didn’t match their intensity,” said senior Jamarion Bardwell, one of the only Cyclones players to do much of anything offensively. “It’s a tough loss for the SHG community, but I’m sure they’ll bounce back next year. This community has done so much for me. I’m just thankful to be part of it.”
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How big is Joliet Catholic? Senior lineman Cam Jurcich is 6-foot-5, 330 pounds – and he can run some. Senior lineman Michael Lynch is 6-5, 300. Junior lineman Ian Campbell is 6-3, 230. Nine other players are listed at 240 and above.
The Cyclones have two players listed at a high of 260 pounds.
“We’ve got some lifting to do,” Cyclones coach John Allison said. “Between the trenches, we didn’t have a lot of answers. We tried match protection, we tried seven-man protection, but they still got to us.”
The Cyclones, who got only five first downs in the game, are a young team that some say overachieved getting this far in the playoffs, so Allison is upbeat about the near future.
“We’ve got some great young skill kids. We’ve got some great young arrivals. We started probably five or six freshmen and sophomores today,” Allison said. “But honestly, we gotta big bigger and stronger in the trenches. That’s really what it comes down to.”
“Yeah, they’re big boys, but I think what really sets us apart is our strength and conditioning program in the off-season, led by Francis Ruettiger,” Hilltoppers coach Jake Jaworski said. “The atmosphere he creates is … I mean, it’s just a man cave with weights. It’s got all the memorabilia on the wall from the ‘60s, ‘70s, ’80s, and on with Joliet Catholic stuff. The kids kind of see what other teams have achieved. It’s kind of the culture center for our program. Our guys are there four days a week – the Monday our season ends all the way through the next summer.”
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The Hilltoppers (7-3 overall) got three touchdown passes from junior quarterback Lucas Simulick, but on the ground is where they did the most damage. Hilltoppers running backs such as Nate Magrini and Vince Bremmer had strong days, each of whom weigh more than 200 pounds.
Joliet Catholic had a 28-0 lead at the half. The Hilltoppers, who never had to punt in the game, stopped the Cyclones on fourth down on two subsequent drives, and each time they went down the short field for scores. Magrini scored twice as part of the first-half scoring.
Cyclones sophomore QB Cam Brinkman had a good season, but a final game he’ll never remember fondly. Brinkman, usually a strong runner up the middle, had nowhere to go on most plays. Joliet Catholic’s defensive line simply bulldozed their way into Brinkman’s kitchen on more plays to count. Brinkman was sidelined by the third quarter, with the Cyclones getting “clocked” (a 40-point deficit triggers a running clock) on their home field for the first time in more than anyone could remember.
“We just couldn’t get anything clicking,” Bardwell said. “That’s a good team over there.”
Said Jaworski about his team’s championship hopes: “I think our conference prepares us well for the playoffs, the grind of getting through that conference. We played a team today with a great program, so it says a lot about how our kids played. We know we’re going to have a very tough opponent (Peoria) next week, so that’s all we can focus on after this one.”
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