Griffins top new rivals to the North

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While it isn’t quite a tradition-rich rivalry just yet, the annual battle between Lincoln-Way East and Lincoln-Way North may very well become a “must see” for prep football fans in the Southland.

Friday night it was the host Griffins who claimed the first installment of the tilt by way of a 45-7 SouthWest Suburban crossover victory in Frankfort.

For Lincoln-Way East (2-0), the win, while historic, also served as a momentum-builder, following the Griffins’ 18-14 win over Providence Catholic in Week 1.

“This absolutely was a big win for us here tonight,” East coach Rob Zvonar said. “We came off a big one last week against a great team.

“We knew last week that North would come out and play us tough, and they certainly did that.”

For the Phoenix, in their first season of varisty competition, Friday’s contest marked just another step in the process of building a first-rate gridiron program.

“Right now, we just don’t match up well with a team like East,” North coach George Czart said of his team made up entirely of sophomores and juniors. “This is going to be a big game for us for many years to come, but I don’t think we had any nerves coming in at all.”

The Griffins received a strong effort from runningback Justin Wittl. The 5-foot-8, 160-pound senior carried nine times for 153 yards and two second-half touchdowns.

“We practiced pretty hard this week and we knew that they (North) were going to come in here and play as hard as they could. I’m just happy we’ve got two wins already.”

East quarterback Spencer Stanek also turned in a strong outing, going 8-of-12 passing for 118 yards. He also rushed five times for 28 yards and two short touchdowns.

Lincoln-Way North (0-2) scored its lone touchdown, trailing 24-0 with 6:47 left in the third quarter when Phoenix quarterback Tait Erikson (7-for-15, 141 yards passing, INT, 10 carries, 11 yards, TD) scored from a yard out. The touchdown was set up by completions of 44 and 28 yards to David Sylvester and Kevin Majchrzak respectively.

East took a 7-0 lead with 4:03 left in the opening quarter on Pete Merenowicz’s 2-yard, TD plunge as Brett Thomaston connected on the first of his six PATs. Thomaston would later give the Griffins a 10-0 lead when he connected for a school-record, 51-yard field goal with 10:30 left in the first half.

The Griffins owned a 17-0 lead at halftime following a one-yard TD run by Kevin Starke with 5:09 left in the quarter. Wittl ripped off a 45-yard scamper to the endzone with 9:14 remaining in the third, giving East a 24-0 bulge.

A one-yard TD run by Stanek late in the quarter upped the lead to 31-7 with 3:07 left in the period before Wittl raced 25 yards to paydirt with 9:06 left in the fourth.

Zach Reid closed the scoring with a 6-yard TD sprint with 2:19 left in the contest.