L-Way East wraps up title share

FRANKFORT -- Lincoln-Way East didn't let a little rain, a little wind, a cold chill or the Thornton Wildcats bother them on Friday night.

The Griffins (8-1, 6-1) played near flawless football in the opening half, rolled to a 28-0 lead at the break and then claimed a share of the Southwest Suburban Blue title with a 35-14 win.

Lincoln-Way East scored touchdowns on three of its first four possessions, failing only on a missed field goal attempt midway through the first quarter. In spite of the swirling winds and the horizontal rain that fell for most of the first half, the Griffins played error-free football.

"We had the wind at our backs in that first quarter and we played almost the whole quarter at their end of the field," East coach Rob Zvonar said. "We had success running the ball and, despite the weather, we stayed fairly balanced."

East quarterback Ryne Van Gennep completed 8-of-13 first-half passes for 110 yards and the Griffins' running game netted 176 yards in the first 24 minutes.

"We were concerned about their big play potential," said Zvonar of Thornton, which missed making the playoffs due to this loss. "They have been dangerous in previous weeks with big plays. I give our defensive guys a lot of credit for the job they did in shutting Thornton down."

Kevin Starke and Matt Hartmann keyed the East running game, with Starke scoring 3 first-half touchdowns on runs of 4, 30 and 3 yards and Hartmann notching one on a run of 24 yards.

"We are fortunate to have the kids that can run our offense well," said Zvonar. "It is an offense that can attack from a lot of different angles. I wouldn't want to be the defensive coordinator and play against our offense."

The share of the Blue crown -- East's first since winning it outright in 2006 -- meant a lot to Zvonar.

"This is a great league and our kids bounced back from a disappointing loss at Bolingbrook to play well the last couple of weeks and won a share of the title. It is a great testament to the hard work of the assistant coaches and the players.

"It has been a tremendous regular season at 8-1," added Zvonar. "It should be good enough to get us a home game next week."

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