Lincoln-Way Central held a block party Friday night.
In its opening-round playoff contest against Andrew, the Knights blocked two punts and turned both into touchdowns in a 24-7 victory.
“My job isn’t even to block the punt,” said Neil Godfrey, who blocked the first kick and was on the punt-block team for the first time this season. “I’m supposed to watch for the fake. But the center snapped the ball and released and didn’t even touch me. The hole was there.”
Godfrey blocked the kick with 2 minutes 20 seconds left in the first quarter, and teammate Ryan Rogers fell on the ball at the Andrew 1-yard line. A play later, Joe Messina scored for a 7-7 tie.
On Andrew’s next possession, an offensive pass-interference penalty again had the Thunderbolts (7-3) punting from deep in their own territory. This time Collin Greiner blocked the kick and fell on the ball in the end zone, and Central (8-2) led 14-7.
“I had a blocked kick against them [in the regular season],” Greiner said. “I’m usually in the middle, but I convinced the coaches to move me outside, and I had a clear shot at the punter.”
The Knights’ defense did the rest, picking off two second-quarter Andrew passes inside the red zone–one by Greiner.
Michael Hauser scored on a 12-yard screen pass from Tom Humenik early in the final quarter, and Jake Wieclaw kicked a 33-yard field goal with 5:15 remaining.
Andrew’s TD came on a 29-yard run from Mike Kaczmarek.
