On Saturday, August 26, the Fenwick Friars’ football program faced the rivals from down the street, the OPRF Huskies. This was the second year in a row Fenwick faced OPRF in football after a hiatus of 33 years. Last year, The Crosstown Classic ended in an unfortunate loss to the Huskies. However, this year the Friars were highly driven and did what it took to earn the win, with senior Luke D’Alise emphasizing that “the biggest motivator for this year’s win was last year’s loss. That feeling of losing 35-7 really stuck with the guys and me, and we were sure that was not going to happen again.” With that being said, on that sunny Saturday morning, the Friars were ready to play one of the biggest games of the year, and end the day being able to say “We run this town.”
The rivalry games began bright and early at 9:00 a.m. with the freshman kickoff. Freshman running back Jake Thies led the offense with two touchdowns and 30 rushes for a total of 170 yards. Tommy Quinn, freshman quarterback, also celebrated a touchdown of his own. On the Friar defense, Rocco Nero scored safety points by tackling an OPRF running back. All in all, the Fenwick freshman defense shut down OPRF after 14 points. The hard-fought game brought the first Fenwick Friar win of the day, with the final score being 23-14.
Following the freshman win, the electric crowd and pumped-up football team were ready to challenge the OPRF huskies for the JV game. The friar offense continued their success, with two rushing touchdowns by Cameron Garret, one rushing touchdown by Aiden Williams, and another rushing touchdown by quarterback, Jamen Williams. The Fenwick defense was led by Michael Murphy with six tackles, and Duffy Monahan with six tackles as well. In the end, the JV Friars won with an impressive final score of 27-14.
The long-awaited varsity grand finale game kicked off at 1:30 p.m. With a packed spectator and student section on both sides of Triton field, everyone was ready to see the result of the third and final game of The Crosstown Classic. Senior Luke D’Alise said that going into the game “The mindset of the team was extremely different than last year. I would say we all came in with anticipation that OPRF was going to be better and that motivated us to work harder in the off-season. Then, with myself, I could not live another year in Oak Park hearing all their trash talk. So I did everything in my power to set the team up for success.” It can be concluded that the team definitely was set up for success as the game began with a touchdown by Luke D’Alise playing as a running back. Following the touchdown were two big tackles by Tommy Thies and Elijah Romeus. Despite their attempts, the OPRF Huskies then scored a touchdown of their own, with a completed extra point kick, which concluded the second quarter with a score of 6-7, with the Friars down by one point. In the second quarter, quarterback Marek Hill scored a touchdown, followed by a two-point conversion, bringing the Friars up to a total of 14 points. Following this, the OPRF Huskies scored a touchdown with a no-good extra point kick, concluding the first half and bringing the score up to 14-13 with the Friars in the lead. During halftime, the cheerleaders and poms team put on great performances as the audience watched, though clearly with a score that close, tensions were high on both sides of the Triton stadium. After the halftime performances concluded, the Fenwick Friars took charge with the offense, with a touchdown from Ninos Ameer in the third quarter with an extra point kick from Luis Avalos, bringing the friars up to a score of 21-13. In the fourth quarter, wide receiver Treston Smith scored a touchdown from a pass from Marek Hill. Following this, Luke D’Alise scored another touchdown with an extra point kick from Luis Avalos. This brought the Friars an electric win with a great second half of the game and a final score of 34-13.
The varsity players were clearly all on top of their game, with some impressive stats to be proud of. Quarterback Marek Hill had a total of 200 passing yards and one touchdown, running back Luke D’Alise had a total of 91 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns, and wide receiver Avion Brown had a total of 7 passes received and 76 yards. On the defense, Tommy Thies had a total of 8 tackles, one assisted tackle, Elijah Romeus had 2 tackles and 2 assisted tackles, and Dillon Murphy had 2 tackles and 3 assisted tackles. Marek Hill, varsity quarterback, commented on the success of the game, saying, “The defense played out of their mind. They constantly got stops and gave the offense a great field position. We had to knock out some first-game jitters on offense, but we started to click in those second and third quarters. Luke had a great game as well, and he makes everyone around him better.”
Overall, The Crosstown Classic was a great experience for everyone involved, including the spectators. The Fenwick student section was packed, with everyone sporting their black clothing for the theme “blackout”. The crowd was loud and supportive of the Friars, and the energy inside the stadium was electric both on the field and in the stands. Senior quarterback Marek Hill commented on the spirit of the game, saying, “The OPRF game was a great start for our team. We came out with great energy and focus, and the student section played a big role in that. If we are able to play with that passion and energy the rest of the season, I put us up with anyone on our schedule.” With that comment, it can be concluded that the liveliness and passion during the OPRF game clearly was a positive factor that added to the experience of everyone involved.
Senior Luke D’Alise, one of the team captains and an excellent player on both offense and defense also said that “the best part of the win is that we have so much more room to improve upon. But overall, I was impressed with Marek, our quarterback. I know he has been working hard and it is great to see that hard work pay off. But going into the rest of the season we know we need to keep getting better every week if we want to achieve our goal of a state championship.” With such a great beginning of the season for the Friars, we can be sure that their hard work will pay off and that they have great things coming for them for the rest of their season.
Special thanks to Will Gladden, and other members of the Fenwick Football Team, for providing game statistics and making this article possible.
The Friars currently have an overall record of 4-2. They take on Mt. Carmel this Friday, October 6th starting at 7:30 pm.
