Jackson Failla’s acclimation to being the starting quarterback at Nazareth is going very well.
How well?
In a 48-24 victory over CCL/ESCC Green opponent St. Rita on Oct. 3, Failla, whose family moved to the Chicagoland area from Pennsylvania because of his dad’s job transfer, threw for 327 yards and five touchdowns as he completed 15 passes in 20 attempts.
That’s 11 touchdowns over the past two weeks for Failla, whose dad Paul is a former Notre Dame quarterback and baseball player.
“It really popped for Jackson last week (in a 48-21 win over Joliet Catholic),” Roadrunners coach Tim Racki said. “He’s always been great. But he and Frankie (Nichols), I was playing them both because they were both contributing in different ways. With Jackson learning the offense and (since) he came here in June, we have a much more extensive playbook than what he was used to in high school.
“But he’s a super-smart kid and he picked it up right away. Like anything, it takes time in a season to develop kids. I’ve played two quarterbacks a couple of times in my career and right now, Jackson is really playing well. His accuracy and his arm and his velocity (are special). He’s got a big-league arm. He can throw 70 yards in the air. … Jackson’s been great. He’s been buying into whatever we do. He’s a team-first kid.”
Four of Failla’s TD passes were caught by wide receiver Jake Cestone, who finished with six receptions for 220 yards. The Illinois State recruit and four-year varsity performer scored on receptions of 80, 40, 17 and 39 yards. Failla’s fifth TD pass was for 13 yards to Charles Calhoun in the second quarter.
“What makes Jake so good are his route-running and he’s very smart with how the defense is defending him,” Racki said. “He knows exactly what they’re doing and he’s so fast and explosive that he’ll know how to take advantage of whether it be a coverage or a DB’s stance if they’re out of their stance and they make a mistake. He’s really good at that.”
Failla also scored on a 6-yard run while Dylan Wellner added a 7-yard TD run.
For St. Rita (2-4, 0-2), Steven Armbruster (9 of 17 passing, 90 yards) connected with Donovan Evans on a 17-yard TD pass in the second quarter and with John Fennell on a 7-yard TD strike in the third quarter. Brandon Johnson Jr. (7-yard run) and Saul Ruiz (22-yard field goal) also scored for the Mustangs.
“My defensive coordinator did an incredible job and the defensive staff was shutting those guys down,” Racki said. “I felt like (St.) Rita was a mirror image of us. They’re gritty, they’re fast and they get to the ball. They execute well and they have speed and that’s pretty much how we are.
“I’m glad that we were able to contain their offense as much as we did.”