By Jack Lydon
Lane Tech defeated Thornton Fractional South 10-6 on Friday evening at Lane Stadium. Lane head coach Dedrick Dewalt switched offensive styles this season moving to a wing T offense in order to take advantage of the strength of his roster—big lineman and quality running backs—which carried the day for the Champions.
A huge crowd at Lane Stadium including two student sections, one at each end of the field, saw the Champions march the ball toward the north endzone ball at the end of the first quarter for a 22-yard field goal by Mudgim Kreho, senior kicker and varsity soccer player from West Rogers Park.
The signature play of the game and the new offense had to be a second quarter run by Lane’s senior running back #9 Yiannis Katsogridakis. Katsogirdakis took a simple dive up the middle smashing his way forward for ten or so yards. He appeared to be stopped by five or six TF South Red Wolves but refused to go down. Literally dragging and carrying the group for an additional twelve yards before eventually collapsing under the weight of the defenders.
“Our kids came in thinking, ‘Hey it’s an easy game. We won by 20 last year.’ We tried to tell them, they pound the ball. They come off tackle. They’ve got good backs. If you don’t tackle them, they are going to go for five yards. If you put them in 3rd and short or 4th and short, they are going to win the game,” said TF South head coach Bob Padjen.
“You gotta stop the [wing T offense] by having linebackers that can read the guards. When the guard and tackle pull, they have to [go] with them. Our guys weren’t doing that in the first half. They were watching the backfield action. You can’t watch the backfield action. And our guys were.”
“That’s our Wing T Offense. Last season we had a bunch of receivers that we could throw the ball around to. This year, our strength is our running backs and our offensive line. So we switched up our offense a little bit to feature our strength. We are going to ride those big boys all season,” said Lane Tech’s third-year head coach Dedrick Dewalt.
A Wing T Offense takes a lot of trust, a team cannot make mistakes, one cannot have negative plays. The Campions didn’t.
“It’s something that we rep every day in practice. We preach no turnovers, no penalties that get us off schedule. With this offense, you have to stay on schedule. Three or four yards a carry. We won this game tonight because were able to control the ball and keep their offense off the field,” Dewalt continued.
Leading 3-0 at the half, Lane picked up where they left off when play resumed. On the strength of repeated carries by Lane’s powerful senior running back Phineas “Finn” Merrill, the Campions marched down the field. Katsogridakis capped the drive with a two-yard touchdown making the score 10-0.
Even so, the Red Wolves were not done. After a penalty marred third quarter, Padjen rallied his crimson canines. Opening up the offense, the Red Wolves marched down toward the south endzone with repeated passes in the flat. South’s Seneca Smith scored with 9:52 left in the fourth on a four-yard run making the score 10-6. PAT failed.
Lane’s ball control scheme took time off the clock until finally giving that ball back to Red Wolves with plenty of time on the clock for a go-ahead score. South moved the ball up the field with the help of some penalties by Lane.
With 33 seconds to play, Lane’s senior linebacker Zach Shashoua picked off a pass in the flat that have been give the Champions fits throughout the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
The casual football fan might not appreciate the finer aspects of a wing T offense in action. Few passes, not much scoring but run faithfully by a coaching staff and executed by a disciplined offensive group with a stingy defense, it’s beauty to behold. This year’s newly created CPS Red-North better study up and hit weight room. Lane is going to put them to the test.
Interestingly, both Lane Tech and TF South officially adopted new team names early this year. Lane dropped “Indians” several years ago and just this year adopted “Champions.” TF South, formerly the “Rebels,” are going with “Red Wolves” starting this school year.
Lane takes on Hubbard next Saturday at noon at Lane Stadium before staring conference play the following week.
TF South looks to turn around their 0-2 season start against archrival TF North.
