2018 State Champs: JCA's 'Grittiest' Football Team Ever

JOLIET, IL - In late 2016, Joliet Catholic Academy athletic director Dan Sharp announced he was stepping down as head football coach. The 2017 team had a 3-6 season in Jake Jaworski's first season. On Tuesday afternoon, in only Jaworski's second year as head football coach, the Joliet Catholic Hilltoppers celebrated their record-setting 14th state football title.

Tuesday's student assembly celebration included short speeches from Mayor Bob O'Dekirk, Councilmen Don "Duck" Dickinson and Pat Mudron.

Will County Board representatives Don Gould and Gloria Dollinger read a proclamation honoring the Joliet Catholic Hilltoppers for defying the odds in a four-loss regular season to win the Class 5A state title. Joliet Catholic beat its dreaded rivals, the Montini Broncos, on Saturday afternoon in Champaign at Memorial Stadium. JCA ended its season with a record of 10-4.

There was some discussion during the assembly whether a high school in Illinois had ever won a state title in football after losing four games during the regular season.

When Coach Jaworski stepped up to the podium, he knew the answer. There were two other schools that had accomplished the miraculous feat, he remarked.

Now, there are three.

The 2018 Joliet Catholic Hilltoppers are now one of 14 football teams in Joliet Catholic's proud history that can forever call themselves state champions.

But this year's team, the coach told the assembly, should go down in Joliet Catholic history as his high school's "grittiest" football team of all-time.

No one in the JCA Student Activity Center for Tuesday's assembly dared to disagree.

Images and video via John Ferak/Joliet Patch Editor