It's a first for Phillips, Chicago Public League

DeKALB - It took 42 years, but the Chicago Public League finally has a football state champion.

Unbeaten Wendell Phillips Academy accomplished the feat with a 51-7 victory over Althoff Catholic of Belleville on Friday at Huskie Stadium. The championship came a year after Phillips dropped last year's 4A title game 49-28 to Rochester.

"Last year, the pressure got to us," Phillips coach Troy McAllister said. "We folded a bit."

Not this year. The Wildcats (14-0) spotted the Crusaders (13-1) a touchdown and scored the last 51 points, with quarterback Quayvon Skanes scoring 4 rushing touchdowns and passing for another.

"It hasn't sunk in yet," McAllister said. "But 10 years from now, when these kids have a reunion, it'll be a big thing."

Skanes' 41-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter evened the score at 7-7.

"I was making a big play to set the tone for the team," Skanes said.

He made several. His 31-yard rush up the middle two series later gave the Wildcats a lead they never relinquished.

The Connecticut-committed speedster gained 141 yards on 13 carries and was 3-of-9 passing for 44 yards. He scored 36 rushing touchdowns this season, finding the end zone on 25.9 percent of his carries.

Skanes' third score came four plays after teammate Anthony Davis recovered Malik Easley's fumble of the second half's opening kickoff, one of five Althoff turnovers forced by Phillips' fierce defense.

"They beat us up front on both sides of the ball," Althoff coach Ken Turner said.

Kamari Mosby added a score for Phillips on a 151-yard rushing performance.

Althoff's lone score was a 9-yard pass from Jordan Augustine to C.J. Coldon on the Crusaders' opening drive.

After that, Augustine was pressed often and sacked six times, losing 47 yards.

"The first drive, we did the things we expected to," Augustine said. "As the game went on, we weren't getting the ball away quick enough."

The state playoffs began in 1974, but only two Chicago Public League teams had previously advanced to title games. Aside from Phillips last year, Robeson advanced to the 5A title game in 1982, losing 16-12 to Rockford Guilford.

Class 3A: Bishop McNamara coach Rich Zananni said he wasn't sure he and his Fightin' Irish would get back to an Indiana state football championship game after losing to Darnall in 1978.

Four years later, they won the first of four state titles in a six-year span. But until Friday, McNamara made only one more appearance since, a loss in 1998.

McNamara made up for the long absence with a 50-7 rout of Unity (10-4) to cap Zananni's 41st year as coach with a 13-1 record.

"We absolutely caught fire in the playoffs," Zananni said. "We had a lot of talent, a lot of threats. This is just awesome."

Jonathan Ward, who is committed to Central Michigan, had a 56-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage.

"I looked at my fullback, followed him, and took it to the house," Ward said.

Ward ran for 189 yards on 17 carries, adding a 41-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to make it 28-0. He finished his season with 2,354 yards and 34 rushing touchdowns.

Ariez Andrew added 3 touchdowns after that, pushing the margin to 50-0 before Unity's Chandler Cousins averted a shutout with a 15-yard touchdown run.

McNamara led 42-0 at the half, having piled up 353 yards on offense and holding Unity's Rockets to minus-4 yards. The Rockets ended up with 96 yards, the bulk collected during the fourth quarter.

Class 2A: Quarterback Peyton Roop ran for 2 touchdowns Friday, in leading unbeaten Tri-Valley to a 41-8 victory over Auburn for the school's first Class 2A championship.

The Vikings (14-0) held Auburn (10-4) to 178 yards while piling up 328 yards, all but three on the ground. Tri-Valley lost to Lena-Winslow in the 2013 Class 1A title game, and lost in the first round of Class 2A last year.

"Two years ago, we were just happy to be here," Roop said. "This year, we came out to finish business."

Roop, the son of coach Josh Roop, rushed for 137 yards on 19 carries and scored on runs of seven and four yards. His first score came with 33 seconds left in the first half. That followed touchdown runs by Jake Steiner, Hayden Long and Brock Danko of seven, four and 15 yards.

"Today was something," said Josh Roop. "We talked about playing with confidence and no fear."

Class 1A: Arcola senior Clayton Strader ran for 2 touchdowns and threw for 2 more to lead the unbeaten Purple Riders to a 35-17 victory over Stark County for the Class 1A state title.

Arcola (14-0), taking advantage of three Stark County turnovers, responded with three straight touchdowns in less than nine minutes in the first half Friday en route to its fourth state title and first since 1988.

Chase Strader, Clayton's brother, started the streak with a 15-yard interception return of John Groter's pass to pull within 7-6 with 56 seconds left in the first quarter. Clayton Strader scored on a 13-yard run early in the second quarter, then added a 27-yard scoring pass to Kollin Seaman to make it 21-7.

Stark County (13-1) scored first on Chase Johnston's 11-yard run with 8:13 left in the first quarter but lost starting quarterback John Groter to a left knee injury midway through the second quarter and managed only 10 more points.