Special teams make the difference for the Meteors

Updated: October 8, 2011 12:26AM

The T.F. North Meteors built a 23-point halftime lead and held off visiting Bremen 30-20 in the South Suburban Blue Friday.

Meteor backup quarterback Dion Beecham (8-for-14, 95 yards) was pressed into service in the biggest game of the year for T.F. North (5-2, 3-2). “I was honored to be given the opportunity,” Beecham said. “I thank God for giving me my athletic ability and tried my best to play my role.”

“He’s a competitor,” Bremen coach Dan Stell said. “Our defense had a hard time making adjustments.”

Bremen (5-2, 2-2) didn’t even get the ball until almost ten minutes were gone in the game and they were behind 14-0. T.F. North scored a touchdown on their opening possession and recovered an onside kick. Then the Meteors scored another touchdown and recovered another onside kick. After going up 22-7 with three minutes left in the first half, T.F. North recovered a third onside kick and scored their final touchdown of the half with no time remaining on the clock.

“We onside kick, we take our chances,” T.F. North’s coach Artie Rogers said, “But we’ll have to come up with another plan for next week.”

Bremen won the field position battle early in the second half, spending most of the third quarter in Meteor territory. After being stopped once at the Meteor 11 and being intercepted at the goal line, the Braves recovered a Dion Beecham fumble and Taiyon Jones ran it in from the five, making it 30-14.

“There’s no quit in our kids,” Stell said . “They never gave up.”

With a little over five minutes left in the game, Bremen quarterback Cedric Clemons (4-for-13, 99 yards) hit Dion Starnes in stride for an 86-yard touchdown strike, bringing the Braves within 30-20.

“They were blitzing on 90 percent of the plays,” Clemons said, “Dion ran a double hitch and go and got open.”

“Our team has a lot of heart,” Beecham said. “We played from the inside and God blessed us.”

“They came out to play tonight,” Stell said. “They had their guys fired up.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.