Glenbard West coach Chad Hetlet said what was on everyone’s mind after No. 2 Loyola beat his team 42-7 on Saturday in Glen Ellyn.
‘‘How good is East St. Louis?’’ he asked.
A week after losing to East St. Louis 34-7 at Illinois State, the Ramblers dominated the No. 19 Hilltoppers, not even missing a beat when quarterback Ryan Fitzgerald, a Player of the Year candidate, left with an injury in the second quarter. Sophomore Dom Maloney came in and threw three touchdown passes.
‘‘He’s got a lot of moxie,’’ Loyola coach Beau Desherow said of Maloney. ‘‘We were confident with him going in there, for sure.’’
The Ramblers played four quarterbacks in the running-clock victory. Fitzgerald, an Iowa recruit, left with a minor injury. Desherow said he could have played, if necessary.
Maloney was 5-for-8 for 112 yards. He connected with Brendan Loftus on a touchdown pass on his first drive, then found Loftus for a 41-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. His third touchdown pass was a 32-yard screen pass to Drew MacPherson.
‘‘It was exciting to get out there after putting in so much work over the summer,’’ Maloney said. ‘‘I’d been waiting for this moment to make everything pay off.’’
Loyola had won 26 consecutive games, 22 consecutive road games and back-to-back Class 8A state titles before its loss to East St. Louis. It was a rare stumble, and many area fans relished the Ramblers’ defeat.
‘‘It was a punch on the chin,’’ Loyola defensive lineman Tommy Ghislandi said. ‘‘It put a chip on our shoulder for the entire week of practice. We showed up with intensity and motivation. Last week, we weren’t communicating like we should have.’’
Ghislandi had two sacks and a pass deflection for the Ramblers (1-1), whose first-team defense didn’t allow a touchdown.
Glenbard West sophomore Oliver Valdez was 4-for-12 for 40 yards. The Hilltoppers’ touchdown came on an 80-yard run by JaMarcus Kelly with 7:22 left.
‘‘We knew they wanted to run, so we read our keys and shut them down,’’ said Ghislandi, an Army recruit. ‘‘We’re the most physical team out there.’’
Loyola looks like its old self on the first drive in Glen Ellyn.
Ryan Fitzgerald to Will Carlson for an 18-yard TD.
Ramblers lead Glenbard West 7-0. pic.twitter.com/onfb029bz2
— Michael O’Brien (@michaelsobrien) September 7, 2024
Fitzgerald completed all eight of his passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns. Loftus had four catches for 101 yards and two touchdowns, and junior Robert Clingan caught three passes for 66 yards and a touchdown.
Loyola led 28-0 at halftime, and a 53-yard touchdown run by Luke Foster made it 42-0 with 7:32 left.
‘‘Getting back to fundamentals was our focus this week,’’ Desherow said. ‘‘It was great to see [Fitzgerald] come back and have success. You can attribute that to our offensive line playing as well as they did.’’
Glenbard West (0-2) lost to Batavia in a close game last week. The Hilltoppers face ranked teams (Downers Grove North and Lyons) on the road the next two weeks and might start the season 0-4.
‘‘We knew what we were in for,’’ Hetlet said. ‘‘We’re just not at that level right now. Batavia is a very, very good team. But you see the gap between [Class] 7A and [Class] 8A. Loyola is just a different breed.’’