Rochester jumps on St. Rita early, wins Class 5A title

St. Rita’s Brian Johnson (14) breaks loose for a touchdown in the IHSA 5A state championship game against Rochester. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

DEKALB—There weren’t any tears in St. Rita’s postgame press conference.

The Mustangs lost to Rochester 42-28 in the Class 5A state championship game at Huskie Stadium in DeKalb on Saturday. But Todd Kuska and his team overcame long odds just to advance to the title game and their future is bright.

Star running back Kaleb Brown and starting quarterback Tommy Ulatowski are just sophomores.

“Obviously we didn’t get the results that we wanted but I’m really proud of our guys for fighting,” Kuska said. “It’s a credit to these seniors and this football team to get to where we are right now. Nobody gave us a lot of credit early on in the season. We had some struggles and they fought through it just like they fought through today.”

Rochester jumped out to a 21-0 lead. The Rockets’ combo of quarterback Clay Bruno and reciever Hank Beatty was deadly. They connected for three TD passes that went from Bruno to Beatty and one that went from Beatty to Bruno.

The Rockets (13-1) also had a knack for picking up crucial first downs in third and long situations.

“They made some plays on those third and longs,” Kuska said. “We’ve been able to get the defense off the field most of the time this year. The quarterback was a nifty guy.”

Bruno was 18-for-25 for 313 yards with four touchdown passes. Beatty had 12 catches for 212 yards and three touchdowns.

Rochester has been a dominant force in Class 4A, winning seven state titles since 2010. This is the Rockets’ eight title and first in Class 5A.

St. Rita captains Trevor Tovey (l-r), Tramon Lias, Michael Milton, and Nick Adent hold the second-place trophy after falling to Rochester.

“I’ve been following this team ever since I moved to Rochester when I was in kindergarten,” senior Jayden Myren said. “I’ve always looked up to them and I’ve always wanted to do the same thing, make history like the 2010 team did and every team after them.”

Brown was limited to just 18 yards on 21 carries.

“If it was nine in the box, if it meant ten in the box, whatever we had to do to stop him,” Rochester coach Derek Leonard said. “Obviously the game plan was just him. We knew he was the guy we had to stop. He was their first option and maybe their second option.”

Junior Brian Johnson took over for Ulatowski in the fourth quarter and ran for a 38-yard and a 10-yard touchdown for the Mustangs (10-4).

“You get the feeling of losing basically and you don’t want to feel it again,” Brown said. “So you have to come back stronger.”