St. Laurence senior Jimmy McDermott spent most of high-school football career playing safety before making some spot starts at quarterback last season.
Once the Vikings named Pat Swanson as their new head coach in January, McDermott made sure to let him that he would like to continue leading the offense as much as possible.
“He came to me when I first got hired and said, ‘I want to be a quarterback — I want to learn the offense,’” Swanson said. “We did kind of a quarterback school from March through August.”
St. Laurence had another talented quarterback on their team, so McDermott and sophomore Noah Taylor have split time in that role — and it has worked well.
The duo combined for four touchdowns to lead St. Laurence to a 49-19 win over host Oak Lawn in a Class 6A first-round game on Oct. 31. The Vikings (6-4) will host Bradley-Bourbonnais (9-1) in the second round at 6 p.m. Friday.
Against Oak Lawn (7-3), McDermott set the tone with a 31-yard screen pass to Cory Les for a TD and also rushed for a 70-yard touchdown.
Les also rushed nine times for 158 yards and a touchdown.
McDermott’s bond with Taylor grew strong in the Viking cafeteria when they shared their lunch period together bounding and learning the new playbook.
“We were both flabbergasted at the beginning,” McDermott said. “We’d look at each other and say, ‘Oh my gosh,’ but as time went on we learned and helped each other learn it.”
“It gave us a head start and helped us learn the playbook before the football season started,” Taylor said. “But it was a bonding time. Me, coach, Jimmy got super close.”
Taylor threw two touchdowns in the win.
Defensively, the Vikings kept the Spartans mostly at bay which Swanson credited to his players as well as defensive coordinator Kyle Pugh.
“I am really lucky to have him on the staff because he makes my life easy,” Swanson said. “He always cooks up something really good for them to be successful with, even this week. It was our first time playing a triple-option team.”
Brian Killen had a fumble recovery in the first quarter which he scooped up for a 35-yard score and a 21-0 Vikings’ lead.
“Anytime you play a triple-option team, it is going to be a dog fight,” Killen said. “These guys are strong, too. But we are going to tackle you and are going to bury you.”
Sophomore Danny Strelow went 10-for-18 for 137 yards and had a rushing touchdown for the Spartans.
Jayden Schlosser caught three passes for 42 yards and also had a rushing touchdown. Also scoring for Oak Lawn was Alex Soto on a 15-yard rush. Luke Mahoney had an interception in the end zone.
Oak Lawn coach Ryan Pattison started just five seniors in the playoff game a year after the Spartans were 0-9. He said he appreciated his seniors for stepping up and laying the groundwork for this new era of Spartans football.
“Their impact is going to be felt for years in this program because they show them the way,” Pattison said. “They set a new standard and gave the kids a recipe on how to get here.”
Meanwhile, St. Laurence was looking ahead to Week 11.
“I don’t think other teams understand how tough we are,” Taylor said. “We played a very hard schedule so teams that haven’t played that hard of a schedule — they are not going to know what to expect when we come in and play them.
“We play some of the best teams in the state and I think that battle-tests us,” Taylor said. “It helps prepare us for other weeks.”