After the regular season, Nazareth Academy’s 2014 state champion football team headed to playoffs with an overall record of 11-2 and a conference record of 5-2.

The Nazareth Academy football team was placed in a different class this year for playoffs. Instead of being in Class 6A, like last year, the team was placed in Class 5A.

The first team that the Roadrunners faced in the playoffs was Sycamore. They defeated Sycamore 38-6 on home turf. The second team that the Nazareth football team had to face was Solorio. The Roadrunners defeated Solorio High School football team on their home turf with a final score of 43-3.

From that point on the competition got harder when the Roadrunners had to play Joliet Catholic. Nazareth Academy and Joliet Catholic are both in the ESCC conference. During the regular season, the Roadrunners were defeated by Joliet Catholic with a close score of 35-38. They were good competition for the Naz football team. The team got another chance to play them in the third round of  playoffs at Valenta Stadium. Nazareth Academy’s football advanced to the fourth round of playoffs after they defeated Joliet Catholic 35-21.

In the fourth round of playoffs, the runners faced the St. Laurence Vikings in Burbank. On saturday of this game it was snowing a lot. The snow that was coming down hard and the wind was strong but that did not stop the Nazareth Roadrunners. The Roadrunners fought the Vikings on the chance to get to the Class 5A state championship in Dekalb.

The fight ended in Nazareth’s victory with a shutout of 34-0. The next stop for Nazareth Roadrunners was Dekalb, Illinois. In Dekalb, the Roadrunners played Lincoln-Way West for the 5A State Championship title. The two teams both had a season record of 11-2. The Runners were the first to score in the first quarter against Lincoln Way West. At the end of the first quarter the  score was 7-0. Going into the second quarter the runners got four more touchdowns. This brought them to a 35-0 lead against Lincoln Way West in the second quarter.

Roadrunners finally finished the first half. The sixth touchdown brought Nazareth to a score of 42-0 in the beginning of the third quarter. With a running clock, Lincoln Way West got on the board with a touchdown making it 42-7. Going into the fourth quarter Lincoln Way West scored two more touchdowns bringing the score 42-21 in the fourth. The final score for the 5A State Championship between Nazareth Academy and Lincoln Way West was 42-21. The Nazareth Academy Roadrunners got their second state championship after defeating Lincoln Way West.