Montini beats Marmion for SCC Blue title
Jordan Westerkamp, difference maker.
The 6-foot-1 Montini junior receiver used all of his 40-inch vertical leap to split two Marmion defenders for the winning 10-yard touchdown catch in overtime.
The flare pass to the left from his cousin, Matt Westerkamp, gave Montini a 27-21 win to dethrone Marmion for the Suburban Christian Conference Blue Division title on Friday at Duffy Memorial Field in Lombard.
“It was like in slow motion,” said Jordan Westerkamp, whose effort earned a hug from his mother, Kim.
“I knew we had to make a play,” Jordan said. “(Matt) just told me, ‘I'm going to throw the ball up there and catch the ball.' Matt made a great throw above the guys and I made the catch.”
Montini (7-2, 5-0) won the overtime coin toss but elected to defend a Marmion offense that had rallied from a 21-0 second-quarter deficit.
Marmion (8-1, 4-1) handed off to its All-State senior, T.J. Lally, but Jordan Westerkamp came up from safety for a glancing 1-hand strip to tip the ball out. Senior cornerback J.R. Campise recovered for Montini.
“I was just staying on my guy, trying to keep outside leverage,” Campise said. “The ball just popped out right in front of me. I had no choice but to fall on it. It's about as big as it gets.”
Montini coach Chris Andriano's overtime plan kicked into gear.
“If it's incomplete, two runs into the middle, keep it in the middle, kick the field goal, we win,” he said. “That would have been it. Didn't have to worry about it. Westerkamp changed all that.”
Marmion forced overtime on quarterback Bobby Peters' 1-yard dive between center Mike Zolfo and left tackle Ryan Glasgow with 2:28 left in regulation.
Lally, who ran 18 times for 138 yards, scored Marmion's first touchdown on a tackler-shrugging 84-yard run to bring the Cadets within 21-7 at halftime. Mike Carbonara made it 21-14 on a 1-yard run at 4:21 of the third quarter.
“We never count ourselves out of a game,” said three-year starter Lally. “As soon as they got up 21-0 we just said it was a new game now and started from scratch.”
Montini receiver Anthony Taylor caught a 69-yard touchdown bomb on the Broncos' first play. Matt Westerkamp ran 4 yards for a touchdown, and Jordan Westerkamp had the Broncos up 21-0 with an 11-yard touchdown grab at 2:53 of the second quarter.
“We didn't lose it on T.J.'s fumble or on the (overtime) touchdown pass,” said Marmion coach Dan Thorpe. “We lost it getting down 21-nothing. You can't do that against a great team like that. But what great character, what great guts from the Cadets.”