Lincoln Park Edges Lane Tech 3-0 in Overtime

[A preview of my Inside-Booster article for this week.]

By Jack Lydon

Ugly isn’t the only word to describe Lincoln Park’s 3-0 overtime win over Lane Tech at Lane Stadium Friday. Painful, dreadful, tedious, boring, even shocking all work well. Neither team could do anything. Neither run nor pass. Penalties. Turnovers. Even a muffed punt. One team kicked the football just slightly better than the other. That proved to be the different.

The Lions improved their record to 5-0 putting them atop CPS’s Red Division. To do it in this fashion didn’t seem to bother Lions’ head coach Andres Flores.

“I don’t think they crossed the 50 [yard line] did they,” Flores said. “The defense has been playing lights out. We just play a different game every week. Whether it is the offense scoring a bunch of points or if it is the defense picking up the slack or the special team on PAT, we find a way to win this year. I think we blocked [Lane’s field goal to tie] with ten people. Which is the crazy part.”

The game started slow and slowed down. The Champions have been throwing more this year than they have in recent years. But that was not to be today. The wind and the Lions’ pass rush saw to that. There was a strong north wind blowing off Addison Street right in Lane’s face as they started the game working south to north.

Wind or no wind, the Lincoln Park defensive line completely controlled the line of scrimmage. Champions running backs struggled to even get to the line of scrimmage. Lane senior quarterback Noah Mayra was pressured on every pass play, sacked multiple times, intercepted twice and fumbled twice. Lane really struggled.

The only scoring in the game came in overtime. Lincoln Park lost the OT coin toss and ended up with the ball first. Starting at the ten-yard line, the Lions first three plays went nowhere. Two runs and an incomplete pass brought the Lions down to fourth and goal from the four. Flores sent in his kicker to attempt a field goal.

This was something of a controversial call. Even if the kick is good, all Lane would have to do is score a touchdown to win.

“[Lions’ junior] Noah Weiss is a great kicker. I trusted my defense. Defense has been lights out all year. Tonight they played a hell of a game again. I was a little worried because [Lane] can run a little bit. I felt that we bottled them up and shut them down. Hat's off to Lane, but it was our night,” Flores said.

Good decision. Weiss sent the ball through the uprights for the only score of the game. It would have been good from 40 yards.

Lane’s offense entered and took the ball at the 10. On first down, a three-yard gain to the seven. On second down, an inexplicable read option by Noah Myara was swallowed for a three-yard loss back the 10. On third and goal from the 10, Mayra tossed a fade pass to the right side of the endzone that had no chance to be caught.

Fourth and goal from the 10, Lane head coach Dedrick Dewalt sent in the kicking unit to tie the game and force another overtime. The dominant Lincoln Park defensive line would have none of it. A host of Lions collapsed the Lane offense line and blocked the kick to win the game.

Midway through the season, it’s clear that Lincoln Park is the class of the CPL northside teams. In recent years, Taft and Lane have been the top teams on the northside. Amundsen has busted into the top with winning records and playoff appearances. This year the Lions are king of the northside jungle. Okay, Taft is good too having lost only to an 8A school, Stevenson, on the road. Amundsen has two losses and Lane has three losses.

Lincoln Park has a 5-0 record includes wins over Phillips, Lane, Lindblom, Comer and Clark Co-op. The Lions will not face any top southside teams like Morgan Park or Whitney Young this season. Noble/Johnson, Westinghouse, Amundsen and Payton remain for Lincoln Park.

Asked if they can “win out,” Flores said, “We’ll take it one game at a time.”

“We’ve got Payton on the last game of the season. We have had a rivalry [with Payton] for a couple years back and forth. Last year they beat us. Year before that we beat them. They are a good team. Well coached.”

IHSA Playoffs Preview—Lane Hosts Neugua Valley, Amundsen Hosts Harlem, Payton Hosts ITW Speer

By Jack Lydon

The IHSA released its football playoff pairings Saturday evening. Five area teams made the playoffs: Lane Tech, Amundsen, Payton, Lincoln Park and Senn.

In 8A, the Lane Tech Champions (7-2, 6-1) will play the Neuqua Valley Wildcats (7-2, 5-1) from Naperville at Lane Stadium on Friday night in 6A football playoffs. Neuqua Valley comes out of the DuPage Valley Conference, perhaps the top conference in the state with powerhouse programs such as Naperville North, Naperville Central, Metea Valley, Waubonsie Valley and DeKalb. Neuqua has 3522 students, a little smaller than Lane with 4273. The Wildcats last made the playoffs in 2018; Lane in 2013.

Lane’s coach Dedrick Dewalt knows his team of Champions have their work cut out for them.  “We got a tough draw. I pretty familiar with what they are and who they are. They have been a pretty stout program for years. Very well coached. They have a history of winning. They play in a very tough conference probably tougher than the Catholic League in some respects,” Dewalt said.

“It will definitely be an electric atmosphere,” Dewalt said of Friday evening’s home game. “We’ll get the student body to support us. I am so happy for these kids. A lot of these kids have endured losing seasons for so long. It kind of makes everything worth it.”

“When you are playing teams like Neugua Valley, you get the total package. You get the athletes, you get the disciplined football player, you get the strong football player, you get the special teams, the outstanding coaching. You get everything,” Dewalt added.

Maybe so, but Lane’s double wing offense requires a special discipline to stop. Lane will add in plays its been practicing but don’t appear on film. Stopping the four plays that Lane runs can be taught but Neuqua Valley will see more than those four plays Friday.

“I have plenty of things up my sleeve that we were going to use [against Simeon], but I thought we were just going to hold for for next week,” said Dewalt.

In 6A playoffs, the Amundsen Vikings (7-2, 5-1) will play the Harlem Huskies (6-3, 5-2) from the Rockford area next Saturday. The final details of when and where still needs to be worked out but the game will probably be next Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. at Winnemac Park.

The Harlem Huskies from Machesney Park, Illinois, are something of a mystery to Chicago coaches and fans. Located just north of Rochford, Machesney Park has 22,000 residents, 1739 of whom are in Harlem High School. The ten team Northern Illinois Conference placed five teams in the playoff. Harlem is coached by Robert Moynihan, one time star defensive lineman at St. Viator High School who went on to play at Southeast Missouri State. In his three seasons, Moynihan’s Huskies have only lost five games.  

Amundsen comes into the IHSA playoffs for only the second time. The Vikings only previous appearance was in 2018. The Vikings put together an amazing season with only two non-conference tough losses to area schools Lane and DePaul Prep. Moynihan’s Harlem Huskies better not overlook the Vikings which features top area prospect wide receiver Adam Muench and talented linebacker John Norton.  

The Payton Grizzlies (7-2, 5-1) will host Noble/ITW Speer (6-3, 5-2) in the 5A playoffs at a time and place to be determined. The Grizzlies may have the best chance of any of the area teams to advance without having to face a suburban powerhouse. Although the Payton program struggles for numbers, they have very good players lead by senior wide receiver Charlie Newton and senior quarterback Kyle Osterman. Noble/ITW Speer is a charter school located on West Grand Avenue in Chicago. Speer finished second to Maria-Catalyst in CPS’s Red-Central Conference.

In 7A, the Lincoln Park Lions (7-2, 6-1) will face Downers Grove North Trojans (6-3, 3-3) from the West Suburban Silver Conference. The Trojans only losses to top teams in their conference: #4 York, #6 Glenbard West and 8A #14 seed Lyons. The talented Lincoln Park Lions were have their paws full.

In 6A, the Senn Bulldogs (5-4, 4-3) travel to Grayslake North to take on No. 3 seed Knights (8-1, 6-1) from the Northern Lake County Conference.

Lane Tech’s double wing offense approaches the line of scrimmage.

Lincoln Park Comes Back to Defeat Payton 19-7

The Lincoln Park Lions (3-1) came back in the fourth quarter to defeat Payton College Prep 19-7 at Lane on Saturday afternoon. The Lions trailed 7-6 midway through the fourth quarter and were struggling. The Payton Grizzlies were struggling too without two impact players and looked to runout the clock. It wasn’t to be. The Lions blocked a punt and recovered the ball deep in Grizzles territory with a chance to take the lead.

“That was a huge play. We told the guys that someone is going to have to make a play, especially on defense the way the game was going for us. I didn’t expect it to happen there but [we] blew it up and that was huge,” said Lincoln Park’s first year head coach Rick Ludwig.

“We were coming off a down year. Early in the game, things didn’t go our way. You could see some of the guys with their heads down. After [the blocked punt], they looked like a different team. That was the most excited that I have seen them. They were very confident. That’s a huge win for our program.”  

The Lions have a lot of personality and a lot of talent but they also made a lot of mistakes.

“That’s what we are trying to fix,” Ludwig continued.

“The only ones that can really beat us are ourselves and we are doing a very good job of doing that.”

That’s actually true. The Lions only defeat this year was a forfeit loss to Von Steuben in the first game of the year. Then followed two blowout wins against Gage Park and Kennedy. With thi win against Payton, Lincoln Park sits atop the CPS Red-West conference with an excellent chance to make the IHSA Playoffs despite some tough upcoming games against Noble/Bulls and Raby.

The Payton Grizzlies came into the game with an impressive 2-1 record and even in defeat, the Grizzlies played DePaul Prep tough in the season opener. Although coach Craig Knoche’s Grizzles squad is small, it is lead by seniors Charlie Newton, an expected Ivy League player, and Kyle Osterman. This combination leads Payton’s explosive passing attack.

Despite the offensive excellence on both teams, it was a defensive struggle in the first half because of penalties and turnovers. Lincoln Park’s Gus Wentland opened the scoring late in the first half on post pattern touchdown catch.

After the kickoff, Payton answered immediately with a simple dive play up the middle to Payton senior running back Morrison Giggetts. Running through a gaping hole in the line, Giggetts took the ball up the middle and weaved his way down the field for an 80 yard touchdown run. With the PAT, the Grizzlies went into the half time break with a 7-6 lead.

That’s where it stood through the third quarter and half the fourth quarter. Neither the Lions nor the Grizzlies could get anything going on offense. Payton’s efforts were severely hampered when key two-way starters Newton and Giggetts both left the game with injuries and did not return.

The block punt and new life breathed into the Lions. Senior running back Anius Finch scored on a nine-yard run to give the Lions a 12-7 lead.

After getting the ball back, on fourth down outside the 20-yard line, Lions’ sophomore wideout Jerrell Benson caught a slang pass at the ten, broke a tackle and stretched out to score a touchdown and put the game out of reach.

Payton senior announcer Theo Geovanis-Schwartz live-streamed the game on Payton’s You Tube channel, “Payton Sports.” The game will be available to watch on that channel as some point.