Loyola puts hurt on Devils

As he tried to get Warren's offense out of neutral, Aaron Montgomery got a toe stuck in Loyola Academy's Hoerster Field.

He continued to play, despite being injured enough that Warren's athletic training staff was fetching the junior a pair of crutches after the game so he could hobble to the team bus.

Blue Devils starting quarterback Zach Shaw had it worse. A Loyola player smacked him so hard midway through the second quarter that the hit burst a blood vessel below Shaw's jaw. Montgomery, a starting linebacker, replaced Shaw, who iced his face the rest of the game and never returned to the field.

"I went out there and it looked like a golf ball underneath his chin," Warren coach Dave Mohapp said of Shaw's wound.

It was that kind of Saturday for Warren in its Class 8A state playoff opener in Wilmette. Behind a defense that was as stingy as it was tough, Loyola defeated Warren 23-3, improving to 8-2 and earning a trip to Palatine to play undefeated Fremd in Round 2.

Loyola's defense held Warren (6-4) to 75 yards of total offense, in addition to putting a physical hurt on the Blue Devils.

"This is Catholic League football," said Ramblers inside linebacker Matt Mugnaini, who had 2 sacks. "It's the way the Catholic League plays -- physical, smash-mouth. That's what we try to do. We try to hit and take the will out of the fight.

"It seemed to work out."

Loyola -- which tied Brother Rice for second place in the Chicago Catholic Blue behind Mt. Carmel -- jumped out to a 13-0 lead on a 3-yard run by Mark Harvey and 1-yard quarterback sneak by Peter Badovinac.

Defensive lineman Patrick Hickey had intercepted a deflected Shaw pass to set up Loyola at the Warren 16. That play resulted in Badovinac's TD with 8:28 left in the second quarter.

On Warren's next possession, Shaw was injured.

Enter Montgomery, who did not take any snaps at quarterback during the regular season.

"It was tough," Montgomery said. "Nerves were running. My teammates helped me through it. I did my best."

Worse still, the Blue Devils also lost fiery offensive guard Chris Lindal to a sprained right ankle.

"It was a big blow," Montgomery said. "That's most of the offense. That's what gets us running -- Zach and Lindal."

That second quarter was also when Montgomery twisted his toe. He clearly had trouble moving on the option.

"We couldn't even get him over to the side to give him plays," Mohapp said. "We had to shuttle them in with other people.

"So, yeah, we were doing things a little bit different than what you'd want to do in a playoff game. We got taken out of our rhythm. That's a very good Loyola football team, though. It's a big, strong, physical bunch of guys."

Warren's defense limited the 6-foot-3 Badovinac to 4-of-14 passing for 30 yards. Ryan Maguire intercepted the senior, who entered the game having thrown for 1,436 yards and 17 TDs.

"I really like the way our defense competed," Mohapp said. "We just can't leave them out there that long."

Warren's only points came on Steve Fox's 44-yard field goal just before halftime. Loyola still led only 13-3 after three quarters, before getting a 41-yard field goal by Patrick Kasten and a 7-yard TD run by Harvey (26 carries, 127 yards).

Blue Devils running back Greg Kennedy entered the game with 1,091 rushing yards but was held to 56 yards on 17 carries.

"They've beaten some good teams," Mugnaini said. "They're a good team -- that (No.) 31 (Kennedy), their fullback (Aaron Dahlke). They're (both) threats. (No.) 85 (Maguire), the quarterback can run a little bit. Give them credit, too. They played good."