It all depends on your perspective. Either Lyons Township started fast or Whitney Young started slowly in Wednesday’s Class 6A playoff opener in Western Springs.
Lyons advanced to the second round with a 34-20 victory and will play Marist Saturday. If it hadn’t been for an opportunistic first-quarter play by their defense, it’s hard to say what the Lions’ Saturday plans might’ve been.
Two Whitney Young mistakes on its first two possessions led to touchdown “drives” of 3 and 20 yards and gave LT (7-3) a 14-0 lead with six minutes left in the first quarter. The Lions turned a blocked punt by Matt Farmer into a TD from a yard out by Nick Listello and a fumble recovery by Jonathan Johnson into another by Treymane Clark from 7 out.
“The game was decided there, really,” said Lyons coach Jack Derning. “They came out a little sluggish on offense. We stopped them on the first series and then blocked the punt. They fumbled the very next play, and then we scored again. After that, we matched touchdowns with them. That’s all it was. It was decided in the first three minutes.”
Lyons drove 60 yards just before the half and increased its lead to 20-0 on a 2-yard touchdown run by Clark with :22 left. Young aided the drive when LT quarterback Steve Liedtke was roughed after an incomplete pass on third down and 16. Clark gained 85 yards on 14 carries before leaving with an injured ankle.
“I really thought we could come back when it was 20-zip,” said Young coach Gerald Prince. “I thought we could come back and win this game in the second half. We didn’t have the ball the first half. I knew we could come back and win. The wind hurt us a little in the first quarter, but we should have defended like we did in the second half.”
Young, led by quarterback Ben Sankey, did not roll over despite its early errors. The Dolphins, who entered with an 8-1 record and their only loss a forfeit, rallied in the second half. Sankey, a junior, completed 17 of 29 passes for 272 yards and two TDs.
“We knew the quarterback was good,” said Derning. “People told us, `Don’t worry about the run-you’ve got to stop the pass,’ and they were right.”
Sankey’s performance couldn’t get Young any closer than the final margin. Lyons got big plays from Liedtke and Dennis Carroll, his backup, in the second half. Liedtke passed 37 yards for a TD to Rick Cavaliere, and Carroll ran 51 yards for a score to keep the Dolphins at a safe distance.
Lyons was coming off two straight losses but had no problem getting up for the playoffs. “We don’t do this every year,” Derning said. “We have not been in the playoffs for five years. Our kids were hungry. This is a new experience for us.”
