FRANKFORT -- At times, Spencer Stanek looks like the inexperienced quarterback that he is in directing the Lincoln-Way East High School football team.
He has started and played in two games.
Then, there are moments when he looks exactly like the offensive spark the Griffins were looking for when they tapped him to go in during the final week of the regular season.
Stanek, a 5-foot-10, 150-pound junior, was living in one of those moments throughout East's rain-soaked 24-10 victory over Naperville Central in the opening round of the Class 8A playoffs Friday night. He completed 6 of 13 passes for 95 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also rushed 12 times for 55 yards.
The Griffins (8-2) took control of what had been a tight battle between perennial postseason powerhouses on the final series of the first half and the first series in the second.
Stanek led a 10-play, 52-yard march for the Griffins that concluded with Brett Thomaston kicking a 28-yard field goal with 6 seconds left in the second quarter. Thomaston's kick boosted East's lead to 10-3 at halftime.
Stanek, on the drive, fielded a high snap in shotgun formation and then turned the corner on a 17-yard highlight reel run. Later, he connected on a 7-yard pass to Lloyd Burchett for a first-and-goal at the 10.
When the Griffins stalled, Thomaston entered and split the uprights with his kick to put a capper on a first half that featured East controlling the clock and field position. Central (6-4) was pinned back in its own territory from the get-go and had trouble mounting much offense even with Harrison Daniels at the controls. The younger brother of ex-Central standout and current Houston Texan Owen Daniels, he was limited to 7-of-13 passing in the first half for 77 yards. He went on to complete 17 of 30 for 183 yards.
He also scored Central's only touchdown on a 1-yard keeper with :22.9 remaining.
By then, East was beginning to look ahead to a date with Neuqua Valley in the second round next weekend. Neuqua whipped Lyons Township 31-14.
The Griffins extended their lead to 17-3 on a 69-yard scoring burst by Burchett on their first possession in the second half.
"All the receivers line up on one side, so you can get some blocking," Burchett said. "I just sprint to their side, and I read their blocks. I picked up an excellent block by (Austin) Zenere on the edge. The line blocked very well. It gave me room to cut back and get up in the hole and take it all the way."
Burchett had to elude Central's last man near the 20.
"I saw him, and I tried to cut back in," he said. "He caught cut my legs. But we've worked on drills at practice to stay up. I just stayed up and tried to find my way into the end zone and I dove in."
Stanek, after making a play-action fake at the line, lofted a 17-yard scoring pass to Dan Fiorenza a few minutes later. The touchdown throw was Stanek's third in two weeks as the Griffins' starter and stretched their lead to 24-3.
"It was the second week in a row that Spencer (Stanek) performed well," East coach Rob Zvonar said. "He made some improvements tonight. I thought our offensive line, although we still had a few breakdowns, was as good as it's been this year. That's good at this time of year.
"And, of course, if you get kids like Dan Cebula and Lloyd Burchett running the ball like they do -- almost two 100-yarders. We haven't had that this year. So, that's outstanding. And, then, Spencer got a chance to run a little bit and keep them off balance. His throws were good. We had some big catches by the wideouts.
"It certainly was not a perfect night, but the name of the game right now is advancing. When you can come out against such a storied program as Naperville Central and get out of here with a pretty good victory, we feel good about that going into Week 2 of the playoffs."
Burchett led the Griffins' ground game with 105 yards on nine carries. Cebula finished with 92 yards on 23 carries. Included was a 5-yard touchdown run to open the scoring in the second quarter.
Central closed within 7-3 on a 32-yard field goal by Mark Giuliani and regained possession following Brian Litwin's recovery of a Cebula fumble.
Daniels, after throwing for 6 yards to Mike Schmitz on a first-down play, had his next two passes batted down at the line of scrimmage, one by Kyle Smith.
Daniels was under nearly constant heat and was blasted to the ground by East defensive end T.J. Jackson a couple of times in the second half.
His counterpart, Stanek, proved more elusive.
The Redhawks were unable to wrap him up.
"We were slow to do it," Zvonar said of the Griffins' move to a new quarterback. "But we really didn't have cause to do it. We were 5-0 with Blake (Hammond). Everybody kind of played poorly at Bolingbrook, not just Blake. So, then in the Sandburg game, we thought maybe we'd be better if we put him as a big weapon out there. He almost caught the fade pass.
"And that's what he's going to be able to do for us. We thought we'd give it a shot against Lockport. We can always go back. But it went well enough last week, gave us a boost, gave us a little lift, that we stuck with it this week. And I thought it was effective again."
Hammond, a 6-5, 230-pounder who is committed to Western Michigan, started the first eight games at quarterback for the Griffins. He moved back to wideout last week. He made three catches for 59 yards.
Fiorenza also finished with three catches. He 41 racked up 41 yards in receiving.
"I say we're a lot smoother offense now," Burchett said. "We have more weapons. We have Blake (Hammond) outside at receiver like he was last year.
"Everything is just clicking together more as a team. And the 'O' line, they're working hard. They're blocking. The receivers are running their routes. The running backs are running. So, everything is working good."
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