Illinois High School Snatches Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory

1440 WROK is back doing high school football this year and this is the kind of ending we're looking for. 

We almost had a finish like that last week when Harlem was driving down the field, down 8, with a minute to play at Hononegah last Friday night. The Huskies moved the ball to midfield before a last minute QB scramble fell short at around the 20-yard line.

We'll try to find another thriller this Friday when we head to Auburn High School when the host the Freeport Pretzels. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:45. Pregame with Joe Dredge, Dave Perrone, and Todd Heidemann will start at 6:30.

But a little more about the above clip.

The Chicago Catholic League has a long history of producing some powerhouse football teams. How long? Here's the list of state champions from the Catholic League since 1976:

• 1976–77 • St. Laurence (Class 5A)
• 1978–79 • St. Rita (Class 5A)
• 1980–81 • Gordon Tech (Class 6A)
• 1980–81 • Mt. Carmel (Class 5A)
• 1981–82 • Brother Rice (Class 6A)
• 1982–83 • Bishop McNamara (Class 3A)
• 1985–86 • Bishop McNamara (Class 3A)
• 1986–87 • Bishop McNamara (Class 3A)
• 1987–88 • Providence Catholic (Class 4A)
• 1987–88 • Bishop McNamara (Class 3A)
• 1988–89 • Mt. Carmel (Class 6A)
• 1989–90 • Mt. Carmel (Class 5A)
• 1990–91 • Mt. Carmel (Class 5A)
• 1991–92 • Mt. Carmel (Class 5A)
• 1991–92 • Providence Catholic (Class 4A)
• 1993–94 • Loyola Academy (Class 6A)
• 1994–95 • Providence Catholic (Class 5A)
• 1995–96 • Providence Catholic (Class 4A)
• 1996–97 • Mt. Carmel (Class 5A)
• 1996–97 • Providence Catholic (Class 4A)
• 1997–98 • Providence Catholic (Class 4A)
• 1998–99 • Mt. Carmel (Class 5A)
• 1999–2000 • Mt. Carmel (Class 5A)
• 2000–01 • Mt. Carmel (Class 5A)
• 2001–02 • Providence Catholic (Class 6A)
• 2002–03 • Mt. Carmel (Class 6A)
• 2002–03 • Providence Catholic (Class 5A)
• 2004–05 • Providence Catholic (Class 6A)
• 2006–07 • St. Rita (Class 7A)
• 2012–13 • Mt. Carmel (Class 8A)
• 2013–14 • Mt. Carmel (Class 7A)
• 2014–15 • Providence Catholic (Class 7A)
• 2015–16 • Montini Catholic (Class 6A)
• 2015–16 • Loyola Academy (Class 8A)
• 2018–19 • Loyola Academy (Class 8A)
• 2019–20 • Mt. Carmel (Class 7A)

The two schools involved in the play are St. Rita and Mt. Carmel. As you can see in the above list, Mt. Carmel has been an absolute powerhouse the last 40 years. The rivalry between the Catholic schools can be intense and that's just the case between St. Rita and Mt. Carmel.

The two schools hadn't played since 2017. The game was played at St. Rita's in front of what's been estimated as high as 8,000 fans. It's kind of a thing.

St. Rita's tied the game up late 9-9 and then got the ball back and moved into chip shot FG territory. The crowd was buzzing at the thought of seeing their team knock off their rival and 17th ranked team in the state.

Then that happened.

A blocked FG leads to a TD walk-off return by Carmel and a stunned home crowd goes home in silence. It's everything great about high school football summed up in a 20 second video.

Tune in Friday night to WROK to see if we get any excitement close to the play above.