Enzo Rendina, St. Francis seniors relish turnaround, wrap up Metro Suburban Blue title

Two years ago, Enzo Rendina was among several sophomores on varsity as Bob McMillen became the St. Francis football team’s third head coach in three seasons.

The Spartans finished 1-8 for the second year in a row, but a huge turnaround was coming.

They completed a championship regular season Friday by defeating Aurora Central Catholic 45-0 at Wheaton College to win the Metro Suburban Blue title outright.

“It’s just the mindset really, guys who want to win, guys who have dedicated themselves,” said Rendina, a senior linebacker. “It’s just not a good feeling to lose all of those games. It is a really good feeling to win games like this. It helps having great coaches turn it around like that.”

St. Francis (8-1, 6-0 in MSC Blue) captured its first conference title since sharing the 2014 Chicago Catholic League Green with Montini.

The Spartans joined the MSC in 2018. Now they are looking for a great playoff run after last year’s 8-3 team reached the Class 5A second round.

“Just a great season,” McMillen said. “A lot of this goes to the boys, the way they worked in the offseason, how they came in prepared, focused, determined to be a team to be reckoned with.”

The Spartans scored the first two times they possessed the football.

Senior Ryan French returned the opening kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown. Following senior Luke Meyer’s fumble recovery at the ACC 19, senior Jake Tangorra caught a TD pass from senior quarterback Michael Baffa.

Starting for injured junior Tommy Rittenhouse, Baffa passed for 163 yards and three TDs – the second two to French and Ben Bettag for 80 and 37 yards, respectively. Baffa also scored on a 3-yard run.

In the third quarter, junior Jackson Gerard added a 17-yard TD end-around run and played quarterback, throwing an 8-yard TD pass to freshman Amari Head for the final score.

During last week’s thrilling 20-19 victory over three-time defending state champion IC Catholic Prep, Rittenhouse broke his non-throwing left arm and starting left guard Ryan Holleman was lost for the season to a left knee injury. McMillen said Rittenhouse already underwent surgery and may be available by the playoff opener.

French’s kickoff return TD came in place of Baffa on special teams.

“It’s been a goal of mine to have a special teams touchdown,” French said. “Winning conference was obviously a main goal of ours but now it’s moving on to our goal of winning state.”

Meyer had two fumble recoveries for the first time in a game on the first two possessions by the Chargers (1-8, 0-6). The first was caused by freshman TJ McMillen. The second Meyer returned 11 yards to the ACC 14. McMillen moved from center to replace Holleman.

“Especially that early in the game, it was surprising (for me) but we’ve got to take advantage of those opportunities,” Meyer said. “It’s all because of the work in the summer and dedication we put in.”

In the second quarter, ACC drove as far as the St. Francis 14 before Eric Welch’s interception in the end zone. The Chargers reached the 2 late but on fourth down the ball was jarred loose and Jack McLennan recovered at the 12.

The Spartans’ last TD drive followed the first interception for starting senior linebacker Dominic Imbrogno, another third-year varsity player who in 2017 only was on special teams.

“It’s super exiting to be able to help the team, finally contribute in a way on the stats papers,” Imbrogno said. “It’s so much more fun. Back in the day, we were lucky to get one (victory) even, so it’s awesome.”