Lockport rally falls just short against Lincoln-Way East

LOCKPORT, Ill. - The 2021 fall season hasn't been one that's been familiar to many followers of the Lincoln-Way East football program.

For the first time since the 2016 season, the Griffins had suffered two losses in the regular season and had a tough matchup going into their week eight game against Lockport, which was undefeated on the season and had already clinched at least a share of the Southwest Suburban Blue Conference title for the first time since 2004, which also happened to be the last time the Porters defeated the Griffins as well.

Lincoln-Way East on the other hand was looking to win or share its fifth consecutive conference title and seventh in the past eight years.

The Griffins (6,2 3-1 Southwest Suburban Blue) kept both those streaks alive Friday, taking down host Lockport 12-10 to win their 18th straight over the Porters and pick up another conference title.

“Our record doesn’t matter,” Lincoln-Way's Jon Guch said. “We’ve had some ups and downs this season, but we’re coming on strong and we’re ready for the playoffs.

“A lot of people doubted us this year because we have a lot of young kids starting on varsity, but everyone shows up ready to go. This was a big win.”

“Our kids hung in there and were gritty on every play. A little undersized up front, we were probably giving up 50, 60 pounds per man, and our guys got beat on a little bit, but they answered back and made some plays,” Lincoln-Way East coach Rob Zvonar said. “Overall, I told the kids I wasn’t kidding, because of the team that we have this year it was one of the best wins we’ve had in program history.”

As has been for much of the season for both teams, it was their defenses that stood tall Friday.

Every time the defenses needed a big play, they'd come through.

That was not more evident than in the third quarter when the Porters (7-1, 3-1) marched down the field on their second possession, all the way to the Griffins' four-yard line, the furthest the team had gotten all night.

There, Lincoln-Way East cornerback Guch intercepted a pass from Brady Pfeifer in the end zone, ruining the home team's best scoring chance they'd had to that point.

"That was the game,” the Griffins' coach said. “We still would have had the lead, but that was huge. We’ve always known Jon Guch is one of the shutdown corners in the state. He’s had a couple rough moments this year, but he responded in that moment there down in the end zone.”

"I knew it was coming and I was ready for it," Guch said. "They had a big rush down the field, and that’s a big upset when you pick the ball over there. That was a big turnover for the game.”

The Porters defense was just as stout, forcing two turnovers, including an end zone interception, and shutting out the Griffins in the second half, but the visitors did all the damage they needed on their first and last possessions of the first half.

The combination of quarterback Brennan Stolarek and wide receiver Jack Tremblay was deadly for the Griffins as they combined for both scores on completions of 20 and 13 yards.

It wasn't just the two of them that were the offensive leaders. Trey Johnson was a workhorse for the Griffins, rushing 32 times for 116 yards.

"I knew it was going to be a dogfight coming into this game," Johnson said. "I just wanted to get three yards a carry to the best of my ability.

"We knew this was going to be the best D-Line we've faced all year, so we just had to push."

“We didn’t take away the things we knew would hurt us,” Lockport coach George Czart said.

“[Tremblay] and [Johnson] were the two guys that we were supposed to stop and we couldn’t.”

The Porters' points came on the last play of the first half on a 41-yard field goal by Gabe Czako and a 23-yard touchdown pass from Pfeifer (184 passing yards) to Evan Gallagher with 31 seconds remaining.

The Porters played without starting quarterback Hayden Timosciek, who was out with an injury.

"Hayden suffered an injury in the last game," Czart said. "He said he couldn’t throw at 100%. Our trainer didn’t clear him until maybe (Friday) but it was too late. (Pfeiffer) took all the snaps the whole week, so we played him.”

The result was disappointing for the Lockport coach, but it didn't put a damper on what his team has accomplished thus far.

"I’ve been a part of three state championship teams and only one of them was undefeated,” Czart said. “That’s the mentality. You lose, you gather yourself and you get back for the next one.”