IHSA Class 3A football playoffs: It’s Montini Catholic, not IC Catholic, in quarterfinals for Princeton

When Princeton coach Ryan Pearson looked at the school classifications that came out this summer, he saw that IC Catholic Prep, the Tigers’ nemesis the past two postseasons, was moved up to Class 4A.

At next glance, he noticed that Montini Catholic was falling to Class 3A and figured the Broncos would be the Tigers’ new hurdle to climb in the playoffs.

That time has come.

The No. 6-seeded Broncos (8-3) and No. 2-ranked Tigers (10-1) will indeed meet in this year’s Class 3A quarterfinals. Game time is 1 p.m. Saturday at Bryant Field, “the Jungle,” in Princeton.

“I don’t know how many 5A and 6A state championships they’ve won. We’ve got our hands full,” Princeton coach Ryan Pearson said. “At the same time, when you’re in the Elite Eight, everybody you play is going to be good. Our kids are excited. We get to come back one more week and play in the Jungle. That’s kind of icing on the cake right there.

“We’re healthy and get to play another week. That’s a blessing right there.”

The Tigers are up for the challenge.

“It’s a big game. We’re all excited, especially a team like Montini,” junior linebacker Arthur Burden said. “Those guys are going to be tough. We’re tough, too, though. We’re just ready against anybody that comes against us.”

It will be the Tigers’ second straight home quarterfinal and fourth consecutive Week 12 appearance dating back to 2019.

The Tigers defense has been nearly flawless on its road back to the quarterfinals, rolling to a 44-7 win in its opener at home against Paxton-Buckley-Loda and a 35-0 shutout at Monmouth-Roseville in Round 2. Saturday’s shutout was the Tigers’ seventh of the season and fourth in their past five games, outscoring their opponents 229-7 (45.8-1.4) during that stretch.

Offensively, the Tigers thrived at Monmouth without throwing a single pass to junior standout Noah LaPorte (31-484, 8 TDs). Sophomore Casey Etheridge rushed for 235 yards and three TDs in the first half, with placekicker Carlos Benavidez setting up the third with a nifty onside kick that eventually gave the Tigers a 22-0 halftime lead.

Montini coach Mike Bokovsky who’s been with the program for 34 years serving as defensive coordinator for former head coach Chris Andriano, who he succeeded in 2017, said the Broncos are looking forward to meeting Princeton for the first time.

“We know Princeton has a strong tradition. We’ve never had the opportunity to play them,” he said. “We are excited about this year. We’ve kind of got things back on track. We’ve had a couple rough last years. It’s really been an exciting year for us.”

Montini has a stellar postseason tradition. It has an all-time playoff record of 70-16 with six state championships and three runner-up finishes since 2004. Most recently, the Broncos finished second in Class 5A in 2018.

But this is not the Montini program of old. It is coming off back-to-back 3-6 seasons since last making the playoffs in 2019. Its enrollment is listed as 488 (27 smaller than PHS), dropping the Broncos to Class 3A for the first time since 2000 after making runs in 4A (2001-04), 5A (2005-14, 2018-19) and 6A (2015-17).

“Everybody’s kind of shocked to see us in 3A. In the Catholic League, there’s 24 teams, and I think we’re 22nd or 23rd in enrollment. We’re certainly size wise right where we belong,” he said.

Montini maintains a 4A-5A schedule, however, playing in the Chicago Catholic League, with an average enrollment of 1,203 for its nine regular season opponents, with a high of 2,146 (Brother Rice) and low of 819 (St. Viator).

“We think we play a pretty tough schedule during the season in the Catholic League, so we think we’re prepared for a lot of things we’re going to see in the playoffs,” Bokovsky said.

The biggest thing for the Broncos getting back to their winning ways has been attitude, Bokovsky said.

“We’ve got a great group of young men this year and had a great offseason. We have some excellent leaders in our senior class. Our junior class is really strong and we’ve got nine sophomores we count on heavily,” he said.

Senior Alex Marre (5-9, 195) leads the Broncos running game with 1,261 yards rushing and 13 TDs, the only back with more than 174 yards rushing. Junior QB Gaetano Carbonara has completed 125 of 221 passes for 16 TDs with seven interceptions. His top receivers are Santino Florio (30-547, 8 TDs), George Asay (31-466, 2) and Mare (26-285, 2).

“They’re big. They’re strong. They’re fast. They play great competition during the regular season. We know what we’re up against,” Pearson said. “Same time, we’re super excited for the opportunity and have a chance to go in front of the home crowd.

“Anytime you get a quarterfinal game at home, it doesn’t matter who you play. It’s always an exciting time.”

The key, Burden said, is the Tigers must stay focused.

“Focus will be everything. [If] everybody does their job, we win,” he said.

The Broncos opened the playoffs with a 48-6 win at home over No. 11 Eureka before beating No. 14 Prairie Central 44-20 in Fairbury.

Pearson said his team is not satisfied just getting there.

“They want to do some damage. It’s a great opportunity for them to show that,” he said.

With a win, the Tigers would host No. 5 Du-Pec (9-2) or travel to No. 1 Byron (11-0) in a semifinal matchup. Byron knocked out Princeton in the semifinals in 2019 (7-3) and the second round in 2018 (28-0).

Princeton is 6-2 at home in the playoffs under Pearson (10-4 overall) in seven years and has won 11 of its past 15 postseason games at Bryant Field. PHS is 3-3 in quarterfinal play in program history dating back to 1989.