A hip flexor kept T.F. South’s Michael Smith on the sidelines for large parts of Friday night’s game, but the junior running back/linebacker played through the pain to reign in overtime.
Smith scored on a 1-yard touchdown run and then blocked an extra point to seal the visiting Rebels’ 14-13 South Suburban Blue win over T.F. North.
“It’s a rivalry game and we wanted this win really bad,” Smith said. “I had to go out there and do it for my team
“After the touchdown, they told me they needed me on the kick block. I had to run in there and make another play. We couldn’t have won this without all my teammates stepping up, though.”
T.F. South (4-0, 2-0) won its first four games to open the season for the first time since 2010.
On the first play of OT, Kamron Clayton threw a 9-yard pass to Diondre Trotter. That set up Smith’s 1-yard TD on third down.
“We struggled on offense, but we went into overtime knowing we had to have intensity and make plays to win this game,” Clayton said. “I knew after we completed that pass that Michael would get it in for us.”
T.F. North (1-3, 0-2) answered with a 5-yard TD run by Kendi Young, but Smith broke through the line to block the extra point.
“I saw a gap between the center and the tackle so I just ran through it and got in there,” Smith said. “It was a great feeling to win this game.”
T.F. South coach Bob Padjen was proud of Smith for gutting it out.
“He was playing at about 50 percent,” Padjen said. “We held him out a lot, but when he got out there he made plays. He’s one of the guys we count on to do that.”
T.F. North scored late in the first quarter on a 52-yard TD pass from Caleb Green to Semaj Brown.
The Rebels answered with 28 seconds left in the first half on a 10-yard pass from Clayton to Chawn Wilson.
Young rushed for 92 yards on 14 carries to lead the Meteors, while Green completed 7 of 13 passes for 109 yards.
Clayton completed 8 of 22 passes for 93 yards for T.F. South.
“They outplayed us and they deserved to win,” Padjen said of T.F. North. “Sometimes it’s good to have the rabbit’s foot. Our kids persevered, though, so I give them credit.”
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
