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52 | September 15, 2016 | The Mokena Messenger Sports mokenamessenger.com Griffins fall to indomitable Homewood-Flossmoor team East looks to bounce back against Bolingbrook Jon DePaolis Freelance Reporter Down five points with 1 minute, 24 seconds left in the fourth quarter Friday, Sept. 9, in Frankfort, the Lincoln-Way East football team faced a fourth-and-7 at the Homewood-Flossmoor 18-yard line. Senior quarterback Max Shafer trotted out to the field after a timeout, and after receiving the snap, he dropped back a few paces before unleashing a pass to his right toward the end zone. But the Vikings’ Dylan Duplessis got a good read on the pass, which was just a hair out of East wide receiver Ken Anderson’s reach, and the Vikings defensive back caught the ball to ice the game for a 35-30 Vikings win. “He got beat early on, and I told him he owed us one,” H-F coach Craig Buzea said of Duplessis after the game. “He stepped up and made one.” A lot of Vikings stepped up to hand the Griffins their first loss of the season. Chief among them were quarterback Bryant Wright and wide receiver Tyrice Richie, who connected for three touchdowns – including the game-winning score on a 34- yard play midway through the fourth quarter. The duo connected on touchdown plays of 40 and 44 yards earlier in the game, and Wright also scored on a 15-yard keeper in the first half. “He’s an outstanding player,” Buzea said of Richie. “He got overshadowed last year … but I’ll put it this way – Northern Illinois got a steal. “This team is unknown; there are so many young guys. You never know what you’re going to get. I knew coming into an environment like this, it was going to be tough for our guys. You just had to stay the course. Luckily, we struck back a couple times and it was a heck of a football game.” East coach Rob Zvonar said the big difference in the game was Richie’s play. “I think that’s a Division I player out there making plays,” Zvonar said. “Most of the night, they kind of did what they wanted on [offense]. But I thought to hold that offense in the second half to 7 points was a credit [to us]. To score 30 points, credit our offense. But we just gave up too many points in the first half.” East got off to a good start against H-F, leading 14-0 early in the first quarter on two long touchdown passes from Jake Arthur to Jeremy Nelson (7 receptions, 107 yards). The first was a 27- yard strike over the middle on the game’s opening drive. The next came on the following series on almost the exact same play, this time going 41 yards for the score. But H-F battled back and led East 28-21 at the end of the first half. East tied it early in the third on a 3-yard scamper by Ryan Scianna (7 rushes, 19 yards). Then, after taking an intentional safety in the fourth, East was down just five with about three minutes to play. But the Vikings survived. “We certainly needed to try to do something, because it was a point a minute for their offense in the first half,” Zvonar said of second-half adjustments. “They were awfully impressive. They outschemed us there a little bit, too. There were some things we haven’t seen, and they executed very well. “We adjusted a couple of little things that fortunately made a difference, but overall we just tried to do things better [in the second half].” Zvonar, however, was pleased with his offense’s performance. Arthur finished 14-of-19 for 195 yards, while Shafer wound up 12-of-21 Lincoln-Way East players (left) high-five Homewood-Flossmoor players following their game. julie mcmann/22nd century media for 100 yards but with two interceptions. Nick Zelenika caught nine passes for 64 yards, while Anderson caught eight balls for 75 yards. Nigel Muhammad rushed 11 times for 41 yards, while Brendan Morrissey gained 38 yards (including a 2-yard touchdown) on seven carries. “I thought the offense played tremendously all night,” Zvonar said. “I know they are going to feel like they stalled a few times when they needed to be productive, but I think if you put up that many points against that football team, you should win the football game.” Despite the big gains by the Vikings on offense, Buzea said the Griffins were the best defense he’s ever coached against. “That’s a hell of a program and this is a hell of a win for us,” he said. And ultimately, the Vikings just had one more play in them than the Griffins in Week 3. “No one is going to fold up tent here after Week 3, and we needed to play a game like this to find out where we’re at,” Zvonar said. “All but the scoreboard at the end was an even game. So, we know we’re this caliber of a football team. We can play with a team like [H-F], and if we had made a couple more plays, we had an opportunity to win. “We’re going to take some positives and build from them. And we’re going to take the negatives and correct them.” East fell to 2-1 on the season, and it will travel to Bolingbrook in Week 4. H-F improved to 3-0. Football From Page 54 But unfortunately for the Knights, both of Campbell’s did. His second one, a pick by Jungheim just 1:21 into the second half, gave Lockport the ball at the Central 48. Four plays later the Porters faced 4th-and-2 at the 26, but Moore gained six yards for a first down. Another 4th-and-2 followed, this one from the 12. Once again, Lockport went for it and Moore motored, nearly untouched, up the middle for a 12-yard TD run to cap the 9-play drive and give the Porters a 13-7 lead. “First off it shows the confidence the coaches have in me to give me the ball,” Moore said of getting the call on the key fourth down situations. “On [the second one] I just saw touchdown.” It continues the odyssey for Moore, who had a few carries for minus-1 in the season opening win 20-9 win at Downers Grove North. But he has substituted for senior John Snidanko, who is still out with an injury, and gained over 400 yards from scrimmage [including passing yards] the past 2 weeks. “I thought I was going to be a backup the entire season,” Moore admitted. “But I’m just stepping up and doing my job. I’m thankful for the opportunity and the offensive line has been great. We just want to keep winning and make the playoffs.” Both teams still have playoff aspirations and Cordell wants the Knights to remain positive and correct their mistakes. “I was proud of the kids on the last drive to come back and score,” he said of the final TD march. “But it comes down to opportunities and we have to take advantage of ours. We win and lose as a team and we are looking at the opportunity to be 1-0 [this] week [7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16 at home against Thornwood]. We will be fine.” Peyton Nigro had a pair of interceptions and fellow junior linebacker Nick Degregorio added one for Central. But Jungheim had the key pick for the Porters to start the third quarter. “We knew what we wanted and we got it,” Jungheim said. “We wanted to be 3-0 and this is huge. We have a team that wants the same thing together and we’re just playing with fire.” Lockport will go into Week 4 against another undefeated oppenent in Homewood Flossmoor.
mokenamessenger.com sports the Mokena Messenger | September 15, 2016 | 53 Girls Volleyball LW Central downed in two sets by D210 rival, LW East Knights continue to work on communication while on court Randy Whalen Freelance Reporter As a sophomore last season, Madi Corey got pulled up to the varsity for the playoff run of the Lincoln-Way North girls volleyball team. That run for the Phoenix took them all the way to the Elite 8 in the state in Class 4A. And, although North closed at the end of the past school year, it also gave Corey an opportunity to get varsity experience. Corey and the rest of the returners from North are now at Lincoln-Way East, while North’s former coach Mary Brown is now the coach at Lincoln-Way Central. Last week Corey put the teaching she learned from Brown to good use as she came in for the second set and helped lead East to a 25-18, 25-8 victory over Central in a SouthWest Suburban Conference crossover on Thursday, Sept. 8 in Frankfort. The win continued a nice start to the season for the Griffins (8-2). Central (3-7) fell to a local opponent for the second time this week. “It’s always fun to play a rivalry match,” Corey said of playing Central. “During the playoffs I got pulled up by coach Brown. She’s an excellent coach and her team played well.” The Knights hung right in there for much of the first set. After East opened with four straight points, junior outside hitter Dom Dixon (3 kills) had a kill and junior setter Cassidy Wyman (3 aces, 7 digs) served an ace to tie the game at 4-4. Soon after junior outside hitter Kylie Kulinski had a kill and middle hitter Liz Neitzel — one of only two seniors on the team, had a block during a 3-point spurt that gave Central its only lead of the match at 8-7. With the score knotted at 9-9, LW East senior middle hitter Sarah Lewis (4 kills) had a kill to trigger a 7-2 burst that put the Griffins ahead for good. Senior outside/right side hitter Becca Lilley added a kill and junior outside hitter Hannah Lesiak (4 kills) and senior setter Madeline Morrow(11 assists, 6 digs) added aces in the stretch. Back-to-back aces by Wyman drew the Knights within 16-14, but they couldn’t get closer. Another 7-2 spurt give East a 23-16 lead. After a couple of Griffins errors, Lesiak tipped a kill and Lilley laced the game winner. “We about the fact that we needed to match their intensity,” East coach Kris Fiore said of the opening set. “It was close for awhile, but our blocking and defense took over. “Then Madi Corey came in [for set 2] and played well. I was impressed that we were able to play kids all over. We had six players with more than one kill. We have 11 or 12 kids that can play and we can use a lot of different people.” Corey (4 kills, 2 assists, 3 digs) certainly showed she is one of them. Playing as a setter/right side hitter in the second set, she had a pair of kills in an opening 6-0 run. The Knights never got closer than 7-2. Kills by junior right side/ outside/setter Molly Hackett and Lesiak, along with an ace from junior defensive specialist Kate Bruder extended the East advantage to 12-2. Central only had back-toback points once in set two, those were to close within 16-6. Kills by Corey and junior outside hitter Camryn Beltz ended the match. Junior middle hitter Haley Hart (3 kills) and senior libero Melanie Weller (6 digs) also contributed for East. Junior libero Lucy Chesla (7 digs) did the same for the Knights. “We’re working, we’re working very hard,” Brown said. “But we stopped talking to each other in the second set. We have to communicate. In the first set, we took them out of their game plan for a while, but they have big hitters. “[At Central] it’s a new team and there’s a lot of inexperience. It takes awhile to get that going. It’s going to take some time, but we need to see some wins, see some results.” East has already seen results, but plans to see more with the right people in place. “We’ve been a work in progress, but it’s fun,” Fiore said. “We’re meshing, but we’re so deep that we can move people around.” Corey agreed and is looking forward to big things the rest of the season. “Going to East we just all connected and it’s been all positive,” she said of moving schools. “The coolest thing is we’ve only been together 2-3 months. I can’t wait to see what happens when we reach our full potential.” Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, Sept. 6, the Griffins traveled to Lombard and defeated Montini — which finished fourth in Class 3A two years ago, 25-15, 21-25, 25- 15. Lesiak (12 kills, 8 blocks) and Hart (6 kills 4 blocks) led the way. Also on Tuesday, Sept. 6, Central traveled down Route 30 to face local rival Providence. There the Knights lost 25-10, 25-22. Chesla had 4 digs in the match. Central’s Kylie Kulinski practices before the Thursday, Sept. 8 match against D210 rivals, Lincoln-Way East in Frankfort. Photos by James Sanchez/22nd Century Media The Knights come together before the start of the match against Lincoln-Way East.
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