By Jack Lydon
Lane Tech’s double wing offense throttled Michelle Clark 24-8 at the newly dedicated Fritz Pollard Field at Lane Stadium Saturday afternoon. Lane Coach Dedrick Dewalt’s has his team of Champions totally invested in the double wing offence and the Champions did what champions do—take care of business.
“I express to my kids everyday, we are not going to out-talent people, we are not going to out-speed people, one thing we can do is out-work people. We come with that workmanlike attitude. And it’a not just on game day. It’s during the week. It’s during practice. We work hard. This is probably the hardest working group that I have ever coached,” Dewalt said.
“Trust me. When we first introduced this offense. [The players] were like, ‘Coach, we like to throw the ball.’ I have a bunch of great kids here. Whatever we require of them, they do it with no complaints. We asked them to learn this offence and now they are seeing the benefits of it. We are winning games. It’s keeping our defense off the field. [Our] defense is playing lights out because we are fresh. We can hold the ball nine or ten minutes in a quarter.”
The hard work has paid off.
Lane’s double wing offense came out firing on all cylinders Saturday and by firing on all cylinders I mean, grinding on all 22 legs. Four yards and a cloud of dust turned into quite a bit more. Early in the first quarter, the Champions had an illegal procedure penalty making it first and fifteen, deep in their end of the field.
First and fifteen in the double wing offense designed to get four yards per carry is not a good situation. No worries, just run a counter on third down and Lane senior wing back Phineas “Finn” Merrill will pick 12 yards for the first down. On the next play, Lane wing Casey Joyce burst through the line for a 51-yard touchdown.
On the next possession, after a Lane interception, Lane’s Phineas “Finn” Merrill ripped off a 46-yard run up the middle. A few plays later, Lane senior running back Yiannis Katsogridakis would not be denied as he barreled up the middle into the end zone for a touchdownn. Lane’s place kicker Mugdim Kreho added his second PAT making the score 14-0 Lane with plenty of time left in the first quarter.
Lane Tech’s ball control, really “clock control,” offense keep Clark’s athletic offense off the field. Clark’s dozen or so offside penalties just gave the Champions help getting first downs all game long. Lane senior quarterback Mark Seward used a two-count to snap the ball. With Lane’s one wing moving on the first count, the Eagles repeatedly went offside. At one point in the late in the fourth quarter, one Clark player loudly admonished another after one such penalty, “you can’t do that.”
The third quarter was all Lane. Seriously, like almost all of it. The Champions took the second half kickoff and with twelve plays, aided by three Clark penalties, held the ball for 11:03 of the twelve-minute quarter.
“Our first goal is always get the four yards. The second goal is always get the first down. I challenge these guys and they take that challenge to heart. We hate punting,” said Lane offensive coordinator Elbert Revina.
The third quarter also featured a little Lane trickery—a forward pass. “The safety was way in. [Clark] really had no corners. They were playing a lot of outside linebackers. We had the wind at our backs. So I figured let’s just toss it and keep them honest. After that I opened up some more off-tackle,” Revina continued. The passed used to open the running game instead of the other way around. Who woulda thunk it?
Lane’s Mugdim Kreho added a 37-yard field goal to make it 17-0 lead in the third.
Late in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach, Clark sophomore quarterback Tysean Perkins took Lane’s kick at the nine-yard line. Starting to his left he cut back making his way across the whole field at what looked like half speed while waiting for his blockers to open a path. There wasn’t so much path opening but there was trailblazing by Perkin. Shedding would be tacklers the up the Clark sideline, Perkins kicked it into high gear and scored continuing to shed Champions as he cut back toward the middle of the field. A two-point conversion made the score 24-8.
Lane’s 6-0 start qualifies them for the IHSA playoffs for the first time since 2005. No one could remember the last time, if ever, Lane Tech had a 6-0 record. They do this year.
Phillips is next. Then Westinghouse. Then sixth ranked 6-0 Simeon. Then the playoffs, for sure this year.
Alex Burstein’s call of the game on Lane Tech Athletic’s You Tube channel Is available here.
