Tough losses to highly ranked teams bookended Lincoln-Way East’s football season.
The Griffins (10-2) overcame a 49-34 home loss to Oak Park-River Forest in their season opener to win 10 straight games before losing 20-7 to Mount Carmel in a Class 7A state quarterfinal Saturday at Gately Stadium.
“I thought we showed a lot of perseverance after we lost our first game,” senior wide receiver Paul Gossage said. “That first game taught us a lesson that the season was not over. We battled back and beat some really good teams.”
The Griffins overcame key personnel losses from last season’s 9-3 team, and they bounced back after starting running back Alex Kraft was injured in the opener. Lincoln-Way East was undefeated in conference play.
Southwest Suburban Blue counterparts Homewood-Flossmoor and Bolingbrook reached the quarterfinals in Class 8A. The Griffins beat the Vikings 43-40 in a thrilling comeback in Week 5 and defeated the Raiders 23-9 in Week 8. Lincoln-Way East defeated four playoff-bound teams in the regular season.
“We had another great season,” Gossage said. “We came short of our overall goal, but we took down a couple of great teams along the way. It’s a big honor to win the conference because we have such a talented conference.”
A two-year starter at running back, Kraft suffered a concussion in Week 1 and did not return until Saturday. Liam Morrissey became the primary running back and rushed for 1,551 yards on 296 carries and scored 25 touchdowns.
Kraft caught a 23-yard touchdown to give the Griffins a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter Saturday. But the defending Class 7A state champions scored the final 20 points to beat the Griffins for the third time in the playoffs since 2006.
Kraft said he doesn’t plan on playing college football due to his repeated concussions dating back to last season.
“It was good to finally get back and play again with the guys,” Kraft said. “It was nice to contribute to the team. It was a tough loss. Obviously, we didn’t finish what we wanted to do, but we had a great season. We fought hard to the finish and did a lot this year. We had the best chemistry this season I’ve seen in all my years playing football since fourth grade.”
