The Brother Rice football team started the season with a defensive punch, blanking the Orr Academy Spartans, 42-0, last night at Gary Little Stadium.
Prior to the game, the Brother Rice family honored three of their own who lost their lives in the line of duty as Chicago Police officers. The fallen heroes were John Knight ’78, Thomas Wortham ’98, and Alex Valadez ’00. The touching moment came when Chicago Policemen bagpipers played Amazing Grace as the crowd and players stood in silence. Everyone, though, was here for a football game, and did they ever see how the sport of football is supposed to be played.
Brother Rice quickly took the lead on their second possession, with an electric run by junior Martez Walker. They added another touchdown in the first half when senior fullback JaRon Hill scampered for a short score. At intermission, the Crusaders led the Spartans, by the thin score of 14-0, but in the second half the Crusaders kicked their offense into high gear, scoring four more touchdowns in impressive fashion.
Two of those were orchestrated by junior quarterback Pat Parrilli, who connected a pass to senior captain and wide out Paul Ruppert and also throwing a strike to senior tight end Brian Knight. Brian honored his late Chicago Policeman father, with that touchdown catch and one other grab. The story of the night, however, was the defense, which played near perfect defense against Orr.
The Crusader defense pummeled their opposing offense, limiting them to a scarce number of first downs and keeping a goose egg on the scoreboard for the Spartans. Every facet of the defense was in full form, making the evening for the Spartan offensive players a nightmare.
The clinic started with the defensive lineman, who clogged up every run and pressured and sacked the quarterback on every passing attempt. The trio of senior Ronald Shelton, junior Mario Diaz, and sophomore Brian Craft worked upfront, establishing the hard hitting tempo. The linebackers also executed, filling gaps and swarming around the ball carrier. Junior linebacker Cody Stull played a major part in the performance putting an earth-shattering hit on the quarterback on his way to making the sack. The defensive backs, as well, played to near perfection shutting down nearly every pass attempt. All eleven starters contributed to this shutout victory and also worked together and trusted one another to do their part.
The defense’s flawless play could be credited to the team’s deep preparation during practice this week, according to junior linebacker Mike Sheehy, who had his share of tackles on Friday, “We keyed on the running back all week, Coach Nye said he was good, we executed the game plan and pitched a shutout.”
Brother Rice took the first step in what is the long journey of a high school football season, but a victory does not get any better, when a team wins by such a wide margin. The Crusaders, next, play host to 0-1 Amundsen on Friday, September 3, at 7:30 p.m. The team realizes that the schedule will only become tougher, but with last night’s victory, they have a feel for what winning is all about.
