Providence Catholic's legacy stands tall

New Lenox Providence Catholic's wide receiver Cole Cullen (left) congratulates wide receiver Jordan Farrell after Farrell's touchdown run in the second quarter of the IHSA Class 6A championship game against Bloomington in 2004. Providence won the state title, its ninth, 40-0. (AP file photo)

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Cary-Grove will try to win its first state football title Saturday against one of the most celebrated programs in Illinois history.

Providence Catholic (12-1) faces the Trojans (13-0) at 1 p.m. at Memorial Stadium in Champaign for the IHSA Class 6A state championship.

The Celtics have nine state titles on their résumé – only Joliet Catholic (13) and Chicago Mount Carmel (10) have more. C-G knows it will take a supreme effort to keep Providence from tying Mount Carmel for second on the list.

“They’re a very big, physical team on defense and on offense too,” C-G coach Bruce Kay said. “They play a power game both offensively and defensively. Their corner, [Peter] Houlihan, also plays offense, and he’s definitely a playmaker. He’s very, very fast.”

The Celtics’ offense leans heavily on running back Tim Hanrahan, who’s rushed for 1,733 yards and also leads the team in receptions with 27.

Providence’s offensive line averages 252 pounds.

Providence averages 278.9 yards a game on offense and the Celtics also played a regular-season schedule with seven playoff teams. Three teams Providence defeated – Chicago St. Rita, Loyola and Mount Carmel – made the quarterfinals in their respective classes.

“We’ve played tough schedules before, but this year we were a little more successful,” Providence coach Mark Coglianese said. “We’re coming out of the regular season 8-1 and were very happy about that. We had real tough games and it helps you when you get in the playoffs. It does prepare us well.”

The Celtics lost their season opener to Lincoln-Way East, 28-7, and have not lost since. They won the rugged Chicago Catholic League Blue Division with a 5-0 record. Providence had a close call in the second round of the playoffs when it defeated Oswego, 16-10, in overtime.

Coglianese is in his fourth year as head coach after serving 19 seasons on former coach Matt Senffner’s staff. The Celtics are playing for a state title for the 11th time. From 1994-2004, Providence won seven state championships and was runner-up twice.

Along with Hanrahan and Houlihan, C-G will be concerned with trying to block defensive tackle Steve Laski, a 6-foot-2, 260-pounder who bench presses 525 pounds and squats 650. Providence sometimes uses him as a back in short-yardage situations.

“We haven’t seen a guy like this in a few years,” Kay said. “He almost reminds us of Vince Filipp [from C-G’s 2004 runner-up team], only Vince didn’t bench that much.”

Providence will give the ball most of the time to Hanrahan out of its power-I formation.

“Tim’s pretty much our go-to guy, he carries the load,” Coglianese said. “Cary-Grove has three guys, that’s a concern for us. With us, we rely on Tim running the ball, and we’ll spread it out and throw some.”

Junior quarterback Joey Houlihan has thrown for 1,434 yards with eight touchdowns and nine interceptions. Houlihan is an Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Class 6A All-State selection at defensive back and also is a dangerous kick and punt returner.