Everything points North
FRANKFORT -- The math is quite simple.
You're in the Class 8A quarterfinals in the state high school football playoffs, and one team forces five turnovers while its offense commits one.
(Michael R. Schmidt/Staff photographer)
• Fumbles put East's defense in tough spot
If you say that team advances to the semifinals, you get a gold star.
That's what occurred Friday night when powerful Naperville North ended Lincoln-Way East's season 21-7. The Huskies (11-1) move on to meet Homewood-Flossmoor next weekend, while the Griffins (9-3) are left to wonder what might have happened, if only they had held on to the ball.
"It would have been a tighter game if we had minimized the mistakes and made more plays, but that's not saying we would have beaten them anyway," said Lincoln-Way coach Rob Zvonar, a class act all the way. "I hate to steal a phrase, but they were who we thought they were. They're an excellent team, well coached and they made plays.
"And, obviously, our turnovers did come into play."
The Griffins' five turnovers all came on fumbles -- two on running plays, two after pass receptions and one on a punt return. Incredibly, in East's first five offensive plays, the Griffins lost three fumbles.
But even with the field position that resulted, and even with the psychological damage such a start might cause, the East defense rose to the occasion time after time.
"They are a skilled defensive team," said Naperville North coach and Joliet native Larry McKeon. "They have good defensive technique and are tough, physical kids. They came out and hit us right in the mouth.
"Absolutely, they are as good a defense as we have played against all year."
The first fumble gave Naperville North a first down at the East 43-yard line. On fourth-and-6 from the 39, quarterback Jordan Tassio -- who also punts, kicks, sells popcorn, you name it -- ran a fake punt but was stopped by Dan Giordano to give the ball back to East.
The Griffins, though, fumbled the ball away on the next play, giving North a first down at the East 36. This time, the drive stalled at the 22, and Tassio missed a 39-yard field goal attempt wide left.
Two plays later, East lost another fumble after a pass completion, and the Huskies were back in business at the Griffins' 42. This time, they converted with a sweep to the 25 on fourth-and-1, and on the next play, Tassio fired a scoring strike to Alex Diekmann long over the middle for a 7-0 lead with 0:51 left in the first quarter.
"We always tell our guys that turnovers create wins," McKeon said. "Our defense did a great job. What was it, five times they got our offense the ball back?"
"It was cold weather, and the ball was hard and slick. We should have been more attentive to that," said East receiver Blake Hammond, who caught five passes for 98 yards, including a brilliant individual play to complete a 50-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, but also lost two fumbles. "The fumbles were killers."
Yet the East defense, for the most part, was up to the extreme challenge.
"I'm really proud of our defense," Zvonar said. "They played hard, went toe-to-toe with them. Our defense kept answering."
The Griffins' offense attempted to put a mark or two in the positive column in the second quarter. East reached the North 30, but a fourth-down pass misfired when Bryan Bailin applied a heavy rush on quarterback Spencer Stanek.
Another journey to a fourth-and-9 at the North 30 ended in Brett Thomaston's miss on a 47-yard field goal attempt. The Griffins also reached the 34 with timing running out in the half, and Thomaston came up short on a 51-yard field goal try.
Still, East trailed only 7-0 at the break.
"I'm proud of our men, the way they persevered," Zvonar said. "To be down only 7-0 at the half said a lot."
The Griffins came up with a big stop early in the third quarter, when linebackers Joe Turek and Tom Lilja combined to stop Tassio at the line of scrimmage on a fourth-and-3 quarterback draw from the East 34.
But on the Huskies' next possession, Nick Mlady's 30-yard run helped set up Tassio's 31-yard scoring run for a 14-0 North lead with 4:43 left in the quarter.
East got poor field position thanks to a fumble on the ensuing kickoff return, wound up punting and North took over at the Griffins' 33. The Huskies converted third-and-8 and third-and-10 plays on the drive, and Mlady scored from 3 yards out on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 21-0.
"They have great players, and their guys made plays," Zvonar said. "It all starts with their quarterback (Tassio), and they have other playmakers, too.
"And as well as our defense responded early, I was not pleased we got them in third-and-long in the third quarter and couldn't get off the field."
East's defense allowed 256 total yards, with 107 of those coming on five plays in the fateful third quarter.
Hammond got East with 21-7 with 5:32 left in the game when he went 50 yards -- thanks to a nice move to escape an initial tackle and a battle to the pylon on the end of the run -- after catching a short pass from Stanek.
Stanek's stats were commendable -- 14-of-23 for 169 yards and the touchdown. But a half-dozen of his incompletions were knocked down at or behind the line of scrimmage, often in crucial situations.
"Their defensive guys were getting their hands up," Zvonar said. "We have drills to keep that from happening. But it's not our mistakes that did it. The credit goes to them and Coach McKeon and his staff for winning this game."
"This team (North) is the best I've seen. They're great on both sides of the ball," Hammond said. "I'll be going to Western Michigan with their good linebacker, Kyle Lackner. I would say they have the best shot to win state of anybody."
Based on what transpired Friday night, an argument would be difficult to find.
