July 22, 2025
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‘It’s fun’: L-P, St. Bede renew rivalry with joint practice

By Kevin Chlum
L-P's Easton Moriarity, carries the ball against St. Bede during a joint practice on Monday July 21, 2025 at Howard Fellows Stadium.

L-P's Easton Moriarity carries the ball against St. Bede during a joint practice on Monday July 21, 2025 at Howard Fellows Stadium. (Scott Anderson)

The La Salle-Peru and St. Bede football series ended in the 1980s, but it was renewed Monday in a more friendly manner.

The Cavaliers and Bruins held a joint practice at Howard Fellows Stadium with a couple hundred fans in the stands as the teams continued their summer work under first-year head coaches.

“It was great,” L-P coach JJ Raffelson said. “It was great to see for the community. I can speak for myself, and I’m sure (St. Bede) Coach (Jack) Brady that we want football to be great in this community no matter the school. We want to encourage kids to play. We want to see people out here celebrating each other and getting the kids together.

“St. Bede and L-P, its a rivalry, but we’re in different classes and we don’t play in the regular season, so it’s just good to get a different look against a different team and have fun doing it.”

Brady, a former Bruin quarterback, enjoyed seeing the two programs get together.

“It was awesome,” Brady said. “They have a great stadium here. It’s very cool to play on it. JJ has got a great thing going here with this program. It’s very cool to see how they operate.

“It was nice seeing the kids on the same field together where that hasn’t happened in 30-plus years and just bridging the two programs that have been separated for so long.”

St. Bede's Trajan Raffety makes a catch against L-P during a joint practice on Monday July 21, 2025 at Howard Fellows Stadium.

St. Bede's Trajan Raffety makes a catch against L-P during a joint practice on Monday July 21, 2025 at Howard Fellows Stadium. (Scott Anderson)

The teams started with drills run together with coaches offering advice and critiques to players on both sides before running plays against each other 11-on-11.

“It’s fun,” L-P junior Jaron Morscheiser said. “It hasn’t happened since I don’t know when, but it’s good. We know some of their players. We live in the same towns. It’s good competition.”

Raffelson said he saw improvement.

“We’re slowly getting better and making adjustments to mistakes we’ve made in the past and not repeating them as much,” Raffelson said. “We’re taking steps with those little things - making sure our alignment, making sure we get out of the huddle quick, making sure we know who’s on the ball and who’s off the ball. We’re working on playing fast, knowing our assignments and executing.”

Brady said Monday’s scrimmage exposed some areas for improvement.

“We definitely have some things to work on,” Brady said. “It was great to see the physicality and speed of L-P. That’s a step up from what we’ve seen in practice, but it’s definitely something that’s going to make us better as the season goes on.

“We have to work on our linemen steps into our run plays, assignments on offense and defense and just the little things that add up.”

Offensively, L-P sophomore quarterback Marion Persich connected well with his receivers, throwing several deep touchdown passes.

“We connected really well,” L-P receiver Logan Zellers said. “We were going over plays (Monday) morning and just making sure we were ready. I think we did really good.

“I think (the offense) is coming together. We have a whole new playbook. I like it. It’s all falling into place. I think it’s going to be a really good year.”

Defensively, the Cavs were strong against the Bruins’ running attack.

“We were really good flowing,” L-P junior Mason Morscheiser said. “Our D-line did a great job exploding off the ball, so it made it a lot easier for us linebackers to find the holes.”

While St. Bede didn’t get much going running the ball, quarterback Geno Ferrari and the Bruins found success in the air.

“I think our pass game looked pretty good,” Brady said. “Defensively, I thought we were flying to the football. We had a couple nice pass breakups and interceptions.”

L-P has a scrimmage against Streator on Wednesday.

“We’re at the tail end of summer camp stuff and before you know it, we’re back in school and ready to roll for Week 1,” Raffelson said. “They’re starting to take what we’re teaching and putting it on the field, so it’s good.”

The Bruins will travel to Mendota to scrimmage the Trojans and former coach Jim Eustice on July 31.

“I thought we did good,” St. Bede senior Trajan Raffety said. “We have some things we can improve on. We need to be more physical and we definitely need to be more conditioned, but I think we can push through it in August and we can do a lot better by our first game.”

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Members of the St. Bede and L-P football team pose for a photo after a joint practice on Monday July 21, 2025 at Howard Fellows Stadium.

Members of the St. Bede and L-P football team pose for a photo after a joint practice on Monday July 21, 2025 at Howard Fellows Stadium. (Scott Anderson)