L-Way East is real Diehl

FRANKFORT -- Ryne Diehl showed he is the real deal in Lincoln-Way East's high school football opener.

Diehl rushed into the backfield and deflected a screen pass in the second quarter of East's 28-7 victory over Providence Catholic before a huge crowd on Friday night at East. He flashed the hands of a wide receiver in coming up with an interception.

And that wasn't even his biggest feat.

Diehl, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound senior defensive lineman, teamed with DeAndre Slate, Austin Copley and Chris Wise to put the heat on two different Providence passers. The Griffins' front four also played the frontrunner role in stopping Providence tailback Tim Hanrahan.

East limited Hanrahan to 28 yards on 11 carries. He never was able to find any room as the Celtics (0-1) went to a spread-option attack in a bid to open some lanes for him up the middle. He was coming off a 2008 season in which he lead area rushers with 1,923 yards and helped Providence reach the quarterfinals of the 6A playoffs.

"I'm going to go with holding him to 28 yards," Diehl said. "He's my next door neighbor. He lives right next to me, right to the left of me. Whenever we come out and hold 'Hannie' to 28 yards, it's good.

"We can't do it without our defense flying around and really getting to him. We had great scout guys out there giving us good looks all week long, really working us hard. When we have a great scout team like that pushing us, it makes the games that much easier."

The victory for East (1-0) was its fifth straight over Providence and came in the series finale between the two neighborhood rivals.

The Griffins spotted the Celtics a 7-0 lead on 80-yard lightning strike touchdown on the second play from scrimmage before bouncing back and controlling play on both sides of the line.

East took advantage of two Providence turnovers to build a 14-7 lead at halftime. And the margin could have been bigger. Kyle Moore missed a 19-yard field goal attempt on the next-to-last play of the half.

East scored on a 32-yard run by Kevin Starke and a 21-yard pass from Ryne Van Gennep to Brandyn Jackson. Jackson's catch came one play after Pat Meehan's interception tilted momentum.

Diehl's deflection and pickoff of a screen pass thrown by Providence's Joe Houlihan followed a few minutes later. The Griffins marched to a fourth-and-one at the 2 and elected to try a Moore field goal with 15.7 seconds left in the first half. His kick was off the mark.

Providence (0-1) struck first. Mike Hoffmeister rolled left and threw the ball to Pete Houlihan on the second play from scrimmage. Houlihan made a two-handed grab and turned on the jets to pull away from East's defense on an 80-yard scoring play. He later exited the game because of cramps.

Hoffmeister, a senior who threw for 1,169 yards a year ago, was replaced by Houlihan's brother, Joe, on Providence's fifth series as Celtics offensive coordinator Marty Balle stuck with a plan to play both of his quarterbacks. Joe Houlihan, a junior playing in his first varsity game, went 0-for-4 in the first half and finished 2-for-9 for 26 yards.

Van Gennep hit 19-of-27 for 222 yards and three touchdowns. He threw second-half scoring passes of 10 yards to Matt Hartmann and 11 yards to Collin Sabal. Jackson led all receivers with seven catches for 107 yards.

"As well as he did -- and that's certainly a nice stat line ---- I think he just managed the offense," East coach Rob Zvonar said. "You come out in your first varsity start against a great team, and we didn't want to put it on his shoulders.

"We just wanted him to manage the game. I think he made the right decisions to take the easy throws when he had it. I thought he managed the huddle and managed the offense great. You saw some of our playmakers out there. He doesn't have to do it all by himself."

The Celtics played without senior middle linebacker Tyler Plantz. He was hurt in practice.