JCA Pulls Out Miracle Win

Prayers get answered at Joliet Catholic Academy, and junior wingback Ty Isaac caught a pass that seemed to drop straight down from the heavens Friday night.

Only 25 seconds after Carmel rallied from a 25-10 third-quarter deficit for a 31-25 lead, junior quarterback Craig Slowik lofted a pass that Isaac corralled, shedding a tackler in the process.

The 6-foot, 215-pound Isaac then eluded another tackler and sprinted into the end zone for his third touchdown of the game, giving the Hilltoppers a 32-31 lead with 35.3 seconds left in the fourth.

That stood up as the final score of a pulsating East Suburban Catholic Conference opener between JCA (1-0, 1-0) and Carmel (0-1, 0-1) — two of the state's top-ranked high school football teams — in front of an estimated crowd of 7,000 at Joliet Memorial Stadium.

“It was a huge game, almost like a playoff game to both teams,” said Isaac, who finished with 313 yards of total offense. “We work on that pass play all the time in practice, we work on our hands, and I knew that I had to bring that ball down and get it into the end zone.”

“All we were trying to do was get Ty in one-on-one coverage on the outside,” said Slowik, whose first varsity start ended as a winner at 5-of-8 passing for 121 yards. “I thought maybe the safety would go over, but I just threw it up and Ty made a great catch. I knew he was gone.”

With the Corsairs going after Northwestern-bound senior wingback Malin Jones (17 carries, 54 yards), Isaac broke out with 221 yards rushing on 17 carries. He added 2 catches for 92 yards.

And none bigger than the last.

“We saw that they were playing our split ends one-on-one out there,” JCA coach Dan Sharp said. “We practiced that sequence all week, so we flipped our receivers and got Ty alone on the sideline.

“With all the pressure being put on him with the rush, it was a great pass by our young quarterback and really a tremendous catch and run by Ty, who made a couple of people miss for the touchdown.”

It wasn’t the first TD, either, for Isaac. He exploded for a 70-yard run with 41.5 seconds in the first quarter. The Hilltoppers sandwiched that score with a pair of 36-yard field goals by senior Isaac Grashoff for a 12-10 halftime lead.

Then, on the first drive of the second half, Isaac slipped past a couple of tacklers, cut back and scored on a 46-yard run. Following an interception by senior cornerback Brody Wilhelmi, Jones sliced up the middle and diced the Carmel defense for a 7-yard TD burst.

Even though the Corsairs crept within 25-23 with 4:28 remaining in the fourth, JCA appeared to be fine when senior defensive end Josh Falk helped snuff a 2-point conversion attempt a foot short of the goal line.

“Overall, I think we read our assignments, we executed the best we could and that’s how we came out with the win,” said Falk, who led the Hilltoppers with a fumble recovery and 4 tackles for loss. “And I expect something like that from Ty Isaac. Wonderful. That’s how good a player he is.”

Indeed, the good times looked to be over with 1:00 remaining when senior running back Mike Panico reached the end zone on a 56-yard run. But Slowik hooked up with Isaac a mere three plays later.

The answer to a prayer.

“It’s like Yogi Berra used to always say,” Sharp nodded with a smile. “It’s never over until it’s over, and I believe the Hilltoppers made that statement a true one tonight."