Not the headline star

Will Mettee is a known name in the Catholic League Blue, but the Boston College recruit does not top any list of Illinois' biggest prospects.

The biggest game yet

Friday in Wilmette brought the season's marquee local matchup, top-ranked Loyola against No. 6 Brother Rice, with heavily recruited players all over the field.

He outplayed all of them

The 6-2, 225-pound linebacker was the best player on the field, starring on offense and defense in Loyola's 27-24 win.

A full stat line

Mettee led the Ramblers' defense mentally and emotionally, adding a sack, two tackles for loss and two touchdowns scored in completely different ways.

Scoop and score

In the first quarter, Brother Rice quarterback Sam Holcomb was stripped. Mettee caught the ball before it hit the ground and ran 30 yards for the touchdown.

Fullback in the fourth

Down 17-13 late, Mettee checked in at fullback and pushed through Brother Rice's feared defensive line for a two-yard touchdown on third down.

His favorite memory

Mettee said the goal-line carry topped everything else he has done in high school, and that his pride in the team ran deeper than pride in himself.

“Getting the ball on the two-yard line with not a lot of time left to go and making it happen.”

Saved for big moments

Coach John Holecek is rationing Mettee's fullback snaps across a long Catholic League season, promising more of them once the playoffs arrive.

“Mettee is a pure football player. He is strong and conditioned. Boston College is getting a heck of a player.”

Brother Rice answers

The Crusaders struck right back, going ahead 24-20 with 3:08 left on a 44-yard touchdown pass from Rocco Galasso to Lucas Strang.

Matthew Lee's moment

The game landed on the quarterback who had started the season well but had never faced a Catholic League Blue spotlight like this one.

Forty-six yards to win

Lee found Joe Haughey for a 46-yard touchdown with 1:10 on the clock, putting Loyola ahead for good at 4-0.

Loose in the fourth

Holecek said Lee looked unlike himself for three quarters, then settled once he stopped thinking. He finished 17 of 30 for 220 yards, two scores, no picks.

“In the fourth quarter somehow he gets more comfortable. He thinks less, maybe. He looked like the college quarterback we expect.”

The two-yard runs mattered

Melo Maldonado's 22 carries for 75 yards undersell him. His darts for two and four yards would have been losses for most backs against that line.

“It was important for him just to get us a little breathing room here and there.”

A dominant front

Brother Rice's line owned the first half with four pass deflections, with junior Kam McGee and Notre Dame recruit Brayden Parks causing the trouble.

Undisciplined at the end

Coach Casey Quedenfeld blamed penalties and a lapse on the winning throw, crediting the route and the ball while faulting his own coverage.

“When it mattered the most, we were a little too undisciplined, and some things didn't go our way that I wish would have.”