By Mark Gregory
Editorial Director
@Hear_The_Beard
mark@buglenewspapers.com
CHAMPAIGN – The last time Joliet Catholic and Montini met in the Illinois High School state championship game, it was the Hilltoppers’ No. 32 that ran all over the Broncos.
Saturday it was the same story, only with a different ending.
In 2011, the runner inside the jersey was Ty Isaac, who pounded out a state title game record 515 yards in JCA’s 70-45 loss to the Broncos on Zuppke Field at Memorial Stadium on the campus of the University of Illinois.
This year, No. 32 in Hillmen brown and white was Nick Iannantone, who tallied 318 yards and three touchdowns on a Class 5A championship game record 40 carries that dominated Montini.
This time, however, JCA won the game 35-27, as the Hilltoppers increased their state-record state titles to 14.
Iannantone was only the third player in IHSA history to carry the football 40 or more times in a state championship game, joining El Paso’s Derek Hunsinger (Class 1A, 42 carries, 2002) and Althoff Catholic’s Hickey Thompson (Class 3A, 41 carries, 1990).
Iannantone’s performance came in front of Isaac, who was on the sidelines for the game.
“Ty was one of the greatest athletes to ever come through our school and to hear him tell me I am a good football player and that I remind him of him back in the day is pretty good to hear,” Iannantone said.
This wasn’t the first appearance for Isaac this season.
“Ty is a great kid and is waiting on his opportunity with the AAFL to start and he has been out at practice a bunch of times and he doesn’t do too much as far as fundamentals and that is awesome coming from Ty because he has a great personality and all these kids and grown up hearing about Ty. He is a legend to these kids and he doesn’t act that way – he jumped right in like he is a high school kid.”
The win was the first ever for JCA against Montini in the state playoffs.
“This win isn’t just for us and the coaches,” Iannantone said. “It is for everyone that came before us that should have had one and didn’t. It is for the community and the alumni and all those guys that played in this game and finished on the other end and didn’t get it.”
Iannantone was asked to carry the load for JCA after running back Keenan Hailey went out with an injured ankle in the second quarter and was on crutches at halftime.
“When he went down, coach Jaws [Jake Jaworski] told me to keep pounding, I kept my composure,” Iannantone said. “I was getting tired, but I just gave it my all.”
Iannantone had 14 of his carries in the third quarter and 16 in total before Hailey shed the crutches came back in the game.
“He tapped me on the shoulder in the fourth quarter and said he was ready to go,” Jaworski said. “I looked for Dr. (Raymond) Meyer and he said he was ready, so we put him back in.”
Hailey was a bit of a decoy in the beginning, but then got back in the mix and with 3 minutes, 28 seconds remaining in the game, broke free for a 30-yard touchdown – the final score of the game.
“The trainers knew how much this game meant to me and they didn’t want to take it away from me. They said it was up to me,” Hailey said.
The touchdown run gave Hailey 98 yards for the game and 2,639 yards on the season, putting him ahead of Isaac’s 2011 mark of 2,629 for the school’s all-time leader in rushing yards in a season.
After Hailey’s score, his second of the game, Montini had one more chance to score and tie the game on a 2-point conversion, but the JCA defense held and ultimately ended the game on an Andrew Gorski interception as time expired.
“Wow, what a finish,” Jaworski said. “What an exciting game. When you think about Joliet Catholic and Montini in the state championship, you think of something coming down right to the wire.
“I am extremely proud of these guys. They have been leaving it on the field for 14 weeks now and sometimes it didn’t always look like there was light at the end of the tunnel, but these guys believed and we got in the playoffs and confidence soared from there. We knew this class was pretty talented. We knew we had some pieces coming up and we had some guys up front. The coaches felt at the beginning of the year that if we could get into the playoffs, we could be right where we are right now.”