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Football: Defense powers Lemont past Hubbard
Updated: November 12, 2011 9:42PM
Lemont held Hubbard to minus-23 yards of total offense Saturday night and the host Indians set a single-season school record with their sixth shutout, a 29-0 victory in a Class 6A quarterfinal game.
“We knew we had to get a shutout to break the record,’’ said Arnas Laurinaitis, Lemont’s 6-foot-2, 270-pound nose tackle. “We knew we had to contain their quarterback.’’
Lemont (12-0) advances to the semifinals for the third time in five years to play Peoria Richwoods.
“The kids have really put in a lot of work to get this far,’’ Lemont coach Eric Michaelsen said. “The defense had an excellent game. Hubbard had a bunch of play makers we needed to try and keep in front of us.’’
Linemen Sebastian Koziel (4 tackles, 1.5 sacks) and Laurinaitis (3 tackles, 1 sack) did the work up front with John Tomala and Justin Lulek to help linebackers Connor O’Brien (7 tackles, 1.5 sacks) and Vince Letizia (5 tackles) finish the job.
“We played together, played with a heart, and made plays,’’ Koziel said. “We handled our responsibilities and got that goose egg.’’
Running back Mike Anzalone had 31 carries for 129 yards and one touchdown and quarterback Damon Aleman threw a touchdown pass and ran one in from three yards out to cap the scoring in the fourth quarter.
“Anzalone is a heck of a tough runner,’’ Michaelsen said. “As the game goes on it seems like he gets even stronger.’’
Lemont led 19-0 at halftime, keeping its first scoring drive going with Aleman’s 18-yard completion to Chris Giatras on a fake punt. Anzalone had a 1-yard dive seven plays later for a 9-0 lead with 42.4 seconds left in the first quarter.
Joe Hehir kicked a 27-yard second-quarter field goal set up six plays earlier by a Jake Lemming fumble recovery on the Greyhounds’ 23-yard line. Tyler Jay caught a 9-yard scoring pass 51 seconds before halftime.
Hubbard (9-3) was the only Chicago Public League team in the quarterfinals and the Greyhounds’ 2005 victory over Oak Forest was the last time a Public League team reached the semifinals.
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