Two schools separated by a few hundred feet met for the first time in almost four decades before a standing-room-only crowd on Friday night.
The game was worth the wait.
DePaul Prep’s defense stopped a Lane run at the one-yard line as time ran out, sealing a 6-0 home win for the Rams.
The last time the teams played, it was 1989, DePaul was known as Gordon Tech and its campus was a half-mile west at Addison and California.
Neither head coach and obviously none of the players had seen the rivalry firsthand before. But now that they have, they’re looking forward to its renewal next year at Lane’s bigger stadium.
“It was a great atmosphere,’ DePaul Prep linebacker Julian Stump said. “Seeing them across the street every day, there’s just something different about it. And knowing that you’re now going to have that built[-in] rivalry with those people and have to play them in the future, it’s definitely special.”
“Obviously the geography speaks for itself,” first-year DePaul Prep coach Nick Bizzieri said. “Tonight was a lot of fun. There was a lot of juice in the air. I wish the show could have been better on both sides, but I hope this is something we can keep going. I would love to do this every year.”
So would Lane coach Deshon Conley.
“There was a lot of energy in the stadium,” he said. “It was fun, for sure.”
The game’s only score came in the final minute of the third quarter when DePaul sophomore quarterback Andrew Campbell found a seam on the right side and ran for a four-yard TD.
“The previous two plays, I saw the D-end crashing in on those runs,” Campbell said. “I told myself before that play, I have to pull this one. And I pulled it out and I ran right in.”
It was the first varsity start for Campbell, an offseason transfer from Joliet Catholic who saw action off the bench in the Rams’ Week 1 win at Richards. He passed for 108 yards.
Lane’s best drive was its last one, which started at its own two-yard line with 4:29 left.
Stump had a 10-yard sack that set Lane back to its own 24 and forced the Champions to burn their last timeout with 28 seconds left.
“It’s a stunt between me and the D-lineman,” Stump said. “He goes inside, I go outside, so it opened up a perfect lane for me.”
A 20-yard pass from Blake Perkins to Shamar Pipes got the ball to the four, but Lane couldn’t score on two runs and time ran out. D’Angelo Bell ran for 70 yards for Lane (1-1) and Pipes rushed for 68.
DePaul is 2-0 after an eventful offseason. Former coach Mike Passarella left for a college job, Bizzieri was promoted in May and more than 10 players transferred out.
“We’re just a whole bunch of hungry kids putting everything together with each other,” Campbell said. “We’re the definition of family out there.”