Reavis is moving on in the IHSA football playoffs for the first time in 11 years.
Thanks to a balanced offensive attack that saw four different players provide rushing touchdowns, the No. 36-seeded Rams edged No. 29 Elgin 31-28 on the road on Oct. 23 in an opening-round Class 7A matchup.
It’s Reavis’ first postseason win since beating Rolling Meadows 57-49 in the Class 7A first round in 2015. The Rams had dropped six consecutive state playoff games since then.
“This was super important for the kids,” Reavis coach Josh O’Shea said. “They knew it’s been a while since we had a playoff win. I think it’s exciting and we have some JV players up with us on the playoff roster. It’s important for the program in the sense of it being a fun win and the kids are excited about it.
“The investment from the younger kids, I think that’ll be a big help. This was good. The kids were excited and it was a fun bus ride home. It was a close game and the whole game was back and forth. … The kids are super-excited to move on to the next round.”
Scoring for the Rams were Dardan Nreci (31-yard run), Ahmed Everette (12-yard run), Christian Del Bosque (10-yard run) and Brandon Seymore (8-yard run). Del Bosque led the Rams with 19 carries for 143 yards, while Nreci added 16 carries for 110 yards. Seymore chipped in 56 yards on 11 carries with Everette contributing 53 yards on five attempts.
“I thought our offensive line was great and they carried us,” O’Shea said. “We kind of made some mistakes early. We threw a pick-six and we were down 14-0. But we got the ball and we just ran.
“Dardan Nreci ran the ball really hard and had some pretty good numbers. … I thought our offensive line did a great job of opening holes for our running backs and quarterback.”
Gabe Juarez had a tackle for loss to stop the Maroons on fourth-and-2 from the Reavis 40 in the final minute of the game, enabling the Rams to run out the clock.
Julian Juache, Maciej Truty and Juju Shahin picked off passes for Reavis.
“The defense came up with a bunch of big turnovers,” O’Shea said.
Reavis advances to play Class 7A top-ranked East St. Louis (8-1) in the first round at 6 p.m. Oct. 30 on the road.
“East St. Louis isn’t just one of the best teams in the state, but they’re one of the best teams in the country,” O’Shea said. “I think it’s an exciting opportunity. Obviously, we know we’re the underdog and the kids know that, too.
“This will be good for the program and seeing what that’s like, and to see what a big-time program is like. This will be a good playoff environment. We’ll head down there on a coach bus and we know we’re up against it. We know they’re a really good team and we’ll go down there and give it our all. It’ll be a really cool playoff experience for the kids. I’m looking forward to that.”