By Randy Whalen
For the Bugle
A year later the Lockport Township football team found its situation flipped with its opponent.
This new situation isn’t any fun for the Porters.
The season-long offensive woes continued to plague the Porters and they fell to Andrew 17-14 in a SouthWest Suburban Conference clash before a homecoming crowd on Friday, Sept. 15 at Lockport.
It was the second straight 3-point win for Andrew (3-2, 2-2), which defeated host Bradley-Bourbonnais 28-25 the week before. Two more victories and the T-Bolts, who were 1-8 last season, are playoff eligible. The Porters (1-4, 0-3), who defeated Andrew 42-16 in Week five last season en route to six wins, lost for the fourth straight week and will have to win out to have any opportunity for the playoffs.
Lockport has only scored 62 points on the season. Seven of those were the result of a 95-yard punt return in a 14-0 victory over Downers Grove North on Aug. 25 in the season opening game. Since then the Porters have given up 101 points.
“In the first half they won the battle of the rushing game,” Lockport coach Dan Starkey said of the T-Bolts. “We stayed away from giving up the big play, but overall their run game did the job.”
The T-Bolts only scored 17 last week, but they were enough. They also controlled the tempo of the game, never throwing a pass, holding the ball for 30 minutes and 19 seconds and racking up all of their 261 yards on the ground.
Cole Griffin was the workhorse for Andrew. The senior running back, carried the ball 31 times for 170 yards and scored a touchdown. For good measure he doubled at corner back on defense and punted the ball on special teams.
“I’m exhausted,” Griffin said after the game. “I [was] working hard out there. This was the biggest game of the year and we were ready.”
When the Porters won last game with Andrew last year, they moved to 4-1 overall. The T-Bolts lost their first eight games a year ago before winning the final one of the regular season. But in his second season Andrew coach Adam Lewandowski has them believing.
“They are really starting to get it,” Lewandowski said of his team. “The offensive line was doing great and we will enjoy the victory. I believe that’s the first time since I’ve been here that we haven’t passed. My coaches told me early on that if your game plan is working and the kids are executing than there is no reason to get away from it.”
It certainly worked perfectly on the T-Bolts first two drives. In the opening march of the game, they went 61 yards – including a 5-yard Porter penalty, took nearly eight minutes off the clock and scored when senior quarterback Jack Condon (14 carries-31 yards) barreled in from 6-yards out with 4:08 left in the first quarter.
“We’re a run first offense,” Condon said. “I don’t have to pass if I don’t need to. Cole put us on his back and the offensive line was dominant.
“We need five wins to possibly make the playoffs. We know that going forward.”
The Porters tried to answer, but after going 53 yards in just five plays to set up a second-and four situation at the Andrew 18. from there they gained one yard, threw an incomplete pass and were sacked on fourth down as the red zone woes that have plagued them all season continued.
Andrew came right back and marched 77 yards in 10 plays. Griffin had the big run on the drive, a 37-yard gallop, that would have been even longer if the T-Bolts didn’t have an illegal block on the play. Griffin ended up taking it in from five yards out with 8:19 left in the second quarter and sophomore Peyton Benes added the extra point for a 14-0 advantage.
“We were ready,” Griffin said. “The line blocked really well and the wide receiver did a great job blocking for me in the open field. I couldn’t have done it without them.”
The Andrew offensive line was junior Kadden Heatherwick at left tackle, senior Kyle Manzi at left guard, junior Adam Jumah at center, senior Austin O’Connor at right guard, and senior Yousef Samara at right tackle.
After an exchange of punts, the Porters finally got moving on offense. They went 61-yards in seven plays and scored on a 12-yard TD pass from junior quarterback Jacob Karli to senior wide out Austin Hoffman with 57.4 seconds left in the first half. That cut the lead to 14-7 and it remained there at halftime. Karli (9-of-18, 104 yards TD , INT) was 4-of-4 on that drive, all of them to Hoffman (6 receptions -79 yards), for 58 yards.
Lockport hopped to carry that momentum into the second half. But, after getting one first down on the ensuing drive to open the third quarter, they had to punt.
“We needed to get a few stops and first downs of our own in the first half and we really didn’t,” Starkey said. “Then we got the ball to start the second half and we have to be able to drive for some points there.”
To make matters worse for the Porters, they turned the ball over when senior defensive back Sean Callaghan intercepted Karli on the next possession at his own 42. From there Andrew drove to a first and goal at the five. An apparent touchdown run by Griffin was called back for holding, but Benes knocked a 21-yard field goal through the uprights for what was then a 17-7 lead. Those proved to be the winning points.
After an exchange of punts and a key stop by senior defensive end Haleem Ajibola, the Porters got the ball back midway through the fourth quarter. Karli (13 carries-56 yards) had a 26-yard run as they drove 56 yards in six plays and scored on a 9-yard TD burst by senior running back Tavares Moore (15 carries-70 yards) with 4:23 remaining in the game. Junior Ryan Barth added the extra point and that cut the lead to 17-14.
Andrew gained one first down, but a senior defensive back Jonathan Savage was there to make a big tackle for loss and help force a punt. Out of time out, the Porters got the ball back on their own 37 with 1:05 left in the game. Karli quickly completed three straight passes, including two to senior Nick Ward (3 catches-25 yards) and had a second-and-three situation at the Andrew 40.
Another 10 yards and they would be in realistic field goal range. But, with the time running down, Karli was forced to spike the ball to stop the clock on second down. On third-and-three he rolled to his right, but everyone was covered and he ran out of bounds for a 3-yard loss. On fourth down from the 43, Karli’s pass sailed high with 11.6 seconds remaining and Andrew ran out the clock to register back-to-back wins for the first time since weeks seven and eight of the 2014 season.
In the meantime the four losses in a row are the most for the Porters since they opened the 2014 season 0-4.
“We battled all the way and I’m proud of the kids for that,” Starkey said. “We were running against the clock [at the end] and we didn’t execute there. We just have to get better. Defensively we have to be able to force a turnover. We had two even teams [with Andrew] and it’s disappointing to come up short. Hopefully we can play well [this Friday, Sept. 29] at Bolingbrook.”