Brother Rice battles St. Rita in 7A state championship for Southwest Side bragging rights

CHICAGO – As in life, sports is all about adjustments.

Mother Nature forced us all to adjust this past weekend. She did so in unprecedented fashion for Saturday’s four scheduled IHSA state football championships.

“We were really disappointed,” noted St. Rita senior quarterback Steven Armbruster. “We were ready to play. Had a lot of momentum throughout the week.”

“We were really excited to go out, so the news was kind of disappointing,” remarked Brother Rice senior quarterback C.J. Gray.

“At the time, it was kind of a waiting game of ‘When will we get more details?’ ‘We don’t know yet. We don’t know,'” explained St. Rita head coach Martin Hopkins.

“You understand it, but at the same time, you’re a little selfish and you just want to play the game,” added Brother Rice head coach Casey Quedenfeld.

The 7A title game was already a much-anticipated rematch of Catholic League rivals Brother Rice and St. Rita. While the drive to NIU is a much shorter trip than Normal, maybe the familiar foes while practicing in more snow Monday could have just found a neutral plot of real estate halfway between their own campuses located just 4.5 miles apart.

“We are familiar with them,” Quedenfeld quipped. “They’ve had a great season themselves, but we’re just focused on ourselves and just getting ready.”

“It’s kind of great to play them again,” Gray said. “We’re just ready to go in and do what we’re supposed to do, but to play them again is kind of cool.”

Sixth-seeded Rice, led by Army-bound QB C.J. Gray – is 12-1 and won the Week 3 matchup with the 25th-seeded St. Rita 28-10. The Mustangs were without Armbruster and star receiver Walter Jones for that one, which was part of a 2-4 start to the season.

Since then, they’ve rattled off seven straight wins, averaging 45 points per game. Round 2 with the Crusaders has much higher stakes and Southwest Side bragging rights on the line.

“Backs against the wall, we needed a win. We knew that. It’s kind of a mindset that we can’t lose and it’s stuck throughout the playoffs,” Armbruster noted. “We knew that we would see them again. There’s really no better place than the state championship.”

“Almost like a whole season ago, but they are a very good football team. They were back then,” added Hopkins. “They’ve got a good line on both sides of the ball – good backs. They’re very productive running the football and I think they’ve kind of gotten better each week.”

“We’re tight as a group now. When adversity hits, we’re able to overcome it. Bad plays happen in the game, as a group, we all uplift each other,” Gray explained. “Everybody’s just excited to let out on the field on Wednesday.”

Brother Rice’s lone state championship came 44 years ago. They have a pair of runners up since. The second of St. Rita’s two state championships was 19 years ago. Hopkins was a part of that team and they’ve also finished second since.

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