Almost -- again -- for JT
JOLIET -- Joliet Township High School's football team played well enough at times and seemed to be capable of springing an upset win over Richards in Friday's season opener.
But a few critical errors at key times proved to be too costly as the Steelmen dropped a 28-21 nonconference decision to the Bulldogs at Klootwyk Field.
(Michael Dinovo/Special to The Herald News)
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"We played like a great team at times, but we made too many mistakes," JT coach Jason Aubry said. "We gave up the opening kickoff and a 52-yard run that shouldn't have gone.
"We did a lot of great things. Our defense stepped up and made some great plays. But we cannot make mistakes like that, especially when we're playing a great team like Richards."
JT (0-1) grabbed a 21-20 halftime advantage over Richards (1-0) but the Bulldogs scored the only points in the second half when Artemos Pikes went in from a yard out with 7:11 left in the third quarter and then added the 2-point conversion.
That series was set up when a bad snap on a punt gave the Bulldogs the ball at JT's 20 yard line.
JT had a chance to tie things up but 15-play drive that started at its 1 yard line was stopped on downs at Richards' 10 yard line with 7:16 left in the game.
The Steelmen took a 21-20 lead with 35 secionds left in the opening half when DJ Foster made a leaping catch on a 9-yard pass from Justin Stephenson (21-45, 253).
The Steelmen had closed the gap to 20-14 just 17 seconds into the second quarter when Jerome Sharpe scored on a 4-yard run.
Richards jumped out to a 20-7 advantage in the first quarter after taking advantage of 2 other breakdowns by the Steelmen.
Keith Sconiers returned the opening kickoff 92 yards and Jon Ryan scored from 52 yards out on the Bulldogs' firast play from scrimmage to make it 14-0 just 4:06 into the game.
The Steelmen closed the gap to 14-7 when Foster caught a 30-yard scoring pass from Stephenson with 5:07 left in the first quarter but Richards scored again with 2:30 left in that quarter when Pikes went over from the 3.
