Football regionals: Spotlight on Griffith's Greg Joyce

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GRIFFITH -- Because Griffith has been known as a running team for eons, there are those who think the Panthers quarterback position is more or less an afterthought.

Conventional thinking would go that a Panthers quarterback would take the following steps to be effective: take the snap, hand the ball off, and get out the way. OK, you might even run the ball yourself from time to time but don't even think of throwing anything past the line of scrimmage.

And that thinking would be perfectly wrong and the current Panthers signal caller is positive proof.

"On this roll we've been going on he's been grading out pretty good," said Griffith offensive coordinator Bo Radtke. "It doesn't matter how we win or lose or how good his stats are, it's his decision making, his reads, his effort. It's not so much his stats as much as his doing his assignments and what I expect of him."

And that he has done well.

It's no coincidence that the Griffith improvement from the first half of the season (losers of four of their first six games) to where they are right now (six wins in a row and a third straight sectional title) coincide with the maturation of quarterback Greg Joyce who will lead the Panthers to a regional rematch against a Lowell team that ousted them from last year's regional round playoffs. They're also the team that could have ousted Joyce's confidence during Week 4 of this season.

"That game was bad," Joyce said. "I had a pass picked off and returned for a touchdown that night. I was just bad the entire game."

Granted, he had company with Griffith being penalized 14 times and having a Joyce 65 yard TD pass called back because of a penalty, but the 27-12 Panthers loss was the worst game the senior QB would have. It also meant it was time to go back to the drawing board.

"We had a serious talk for a couple of hours and got on the same page," Radtke said. "Ever since then we he's been really clicking. He's come a long way since the beginning of the year. He's a totally different kid with a totally different mindset."

And the maturation of Joyce has led to a totally different second half of the season for the Panthers, who have flourished since the quarterback and Radtke had their heart-to-heart session. Griffith (8-4) has won seven of their last eight while scoring 40 or more points in four of those wins.

And even when they didn't quite hit the big 4-0, Joyce was impressive, beating Hobart 35-14 in the sectional semi-final with Joyce scoring on touchdown runs of 18 and 46 yards in the third quarter.

We know what you're thinking.

A Griffith quarterback that can hurt you with his legs we've seen. But can he put the ball in the air and inflict pain on the opposition?

Granted, Joyce is not quite like Richard Lehman, the record-setting Panthers QB from four years back, but the kid is no slouch slinging the pigskin. East Chicago can tell you a few stories after the Cardinals got burned by two Joyce TD passes in the Panthers' mid-October 46-14 win (and to keep traditionalists' happy at Griffith, yes, he ran one for a score as well).

"Oh, I'm way more comfortable now in this offense," Joyce said. "We had some more meetings after we lost to Munster (in week six, the last time Griffith has lost) and I'm starting to feel comfortable."

So comfortable in fact that Morton also found out the hard way how Joyce's arm is hardly Venus De Milo status at two very important parts of last week's sectional finals.

"He throw's big time balls when we need them," Radtke said. "When crunch time comes, he throws that perfect pass. Last week(against Morton) we're only up by seven and he hit Edward Johnson with a perfect pass. Touchdown."

Later, when Griffith faced a third and six on a crucial possession, Joyce hit Mark Butkus when Radtke called for a 10-yard out. Perfect pass. First down. Two big plays that helped cement a 21-7 sectional clinching win.

"He's proven a lot since the beginning of the year. Playing quarterback for this offense is the most important part of this team," said senior fullback Austin Guzior.

"He gets a chance to audible on just about every down and change so many things, more than I think what any other offense could and he really uses it now, unlike the beginning of this season."

The Panthers could use all the options that can get their hands on against Lowell who has shut out three opponents this season and has given up seven points or less seven times (although Hobart showed what might be Lowell's achilles heel by passing their way into an almost second half comeback in their September matchup, ringing up 32 points against the Red Devils defense.) Could the possibility exist that Joyce's arm might be a factor come Friday?

"As long as we keep on doing what we've done the last couple of weeks, we should be good," Joyce said.

If Griffith wants to return to the semistate after a one-year absence, then the same has to be said about the play of their quarterback. And unlike the first few weeks of the season, that is definitely not a bad thing.

"He's one of the main reasons we're finally starting to get our wins up," Guzior said.

"He's really brought our team up and has helped our confidence. He's been improving and while he improves, the whole team is getting better, too."