Lane Survives Late Charge by TF South 21-20

The plodding lackluster contest became an unlikely thriller with three quick touchdowns, a made two-pointer and a missed two-pointer all in the final three minutes of the game. The Lane Tech Champions (1-1, 0-0) traveled to Lansing, Illinois to take on the Thornton Fractional South Red Wolves and survive a late comeback by the Red Wolves to win 21-20 Friday night.

Let’s just say that until the final three minutes, this game was not exactly football at it finest. Both teams were plagued by mis-queues, injuries and penalties, and the occasional dustup too. The ineptitude both squads displayed gave way to clutch plays at the end.

Down late 14-6 late in the game, there was no quit in TF South. With three minutes left, Red Wolves’ senior quarterback Nicholas Ford launched a deep ball up the far sideline. Sophomore wide receiver Amari Dukes caught it in stride for a 63-yard touchdown to bring the Wolves to within two points. What looked like an eventual Lane win suddenly was one play away from a tie.

With the game on the line, Ford found his other wide receiver David Nkwogo at the back of the endzone for the two-point conversion to tie the game.

The Lane sideline was stunned. I think the TF South sideline was a little stunned too but cheered and danced all the same.

With 2:35 left on the clock, Lane Tech fielded South’s kickoff and returned it to their own thirty-three-yard line with time to take the lead.

This is not the three yards and a cloud of dust Lane Tech Champions of recent years. On the very next play, senior quarterback Noah Mayra took the shotgun snap and quick rifled a strike down the middle to junior wideout (and baseball player) Alex Lagges. Lagges shock a couple tackles and raced up the Lane sideline for the go-ahead score. The PAT made it 21-14 Lane. 

“This year we have some pretty good skill [players]. That was just a double post to the middle of the field and Alex [Lagges] took it 80 yard (67 actually) for a touchdown,” Lane Tech head coach Dedrick Dewalt said.

“I had the post on that,” Champion’s Alex Lagges said of his winning touchdown after the game. “I just trusted that my quarterback Noah [Mayra] was going to see it, read it. That’s what he did. That’s what we do. Great play call by my coach. He saw the middle was open. We knew if we got the shot, we could make things happen.”

One play and the Champions had the lead back with 2:16 on clock. But still plenty of time left for South. But no time outs for the Red Wolves. A couple plays for small gains took time off the clock. Then Red Wolves QB Ford scrambled and found senior wide receiver Tariq Meggs-Hood underneath the coverage who sprinted up the Lane sideline to the Lane 45-yard line.

With time ticking down to 35 seconds, Ford dropped back and launched a perfect strike to senior RB/WR Christian Streeter at the goal line for another unlikely touchdown against a prevent two deep zone defense to make the score 21-20. This time the South faithful believed it and stadium erupted.

TF South head coach Bob Padjen, never hesitated. They were going for it. Win or lose, the extra points try would decide the game.

With no time outs, the Red Wolves would need run the play quickly. Padjen called a cut back run up the middle from an overloaded and decoy formation. But the quarterback audibled to a Philadelphia Eagles style “tush push” run up the middle from the three-yard line. Initially, it looked like it was working but the Champions defensive line stiffened and stopped the Wolves a half-yard shy of victory.

The Champions move into Chicago Public League play. CPL has created a 16 team Red Division super-conference. Lane will not have to face Kenwood and Simeon this season but will have to face Morgan Park. The games against Whitney Young, Taft and Amundsen give the Champions a chance to prove undeniable mastery of the Northside. Stay tuned.

Lane Smothers TF South 10-6

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.