Lemont moves quickly, dominates longtime power

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One snap, and the tone for the Lemont High School football team's 43-0 victory over Richards was set Sept. 19 in Oak Lawn.

One snap, and the Indians had the Bulldogs back on their heels.

That was exactly what Lemont quarterback Nick Lawrence expected.

"The offensive line hit 'em hard on the first play, and they never came back," Lawrence said.

Richards coach Tony Sheehan couldn't disagree.

"They came into a fight, threw a punch, and we just took it," Sheehan said as about 1,000 stunned Bulldog fans exited Korhonen Field.

The punch was supplied by Lemont's offensive linemen: seniors Eric Leadley, Brian Motyka, Tim Ahline and Trevor Rothstein, and junior Jimmy Purvin. They dominated Richards' defensive line all night.

That first play? Danny Hayes ran 9 yards off left tackle, a taste of things to come. He would finish with 126 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries. The Indians had 279 yards, 181 via the ground, at halftime.

It was 36-0 then, and Richards, with 52 yards, 11 rushing, was fortunate to have 0. By game's end, Lemont had a 397-83 yardage advantage.

"I never expected this," Lemont coach Eric Michaelsen said, crediting his coaching staff for preparing the team, and the players for executing the game plan.

The Indians improved to 4-0 on the eve of conference play, while Richards, at 1-3, has a trio of regular-season losses for the first time since 2003 and for only the fourth time in 24 seasons.

"I'm getting real tired of saying we've got to turn it around," said Sheehan, who played for and coached with Korhonen, who finished with more than 300 wins in 35 years at Richards. "I've never been so embarrassed."

It was Richards' worst loss since a 41-0 defeat by Providence in the 2001 Class 6A championship game.

Talk at the game focused on whether anyone could remember the running clock rule being used, which comes into play when a team trails by 40 or more points, with the Bulldogs trailing at home.

The Indians scored on all five first-half possessions. Hayes ran for those two touchdowns, as did Tyler Burns, who also caught a 57-yard pass from Lawrence (5-of-5, 147 yards) to set up Lemont's second touchdown. Lawrence's lone touchdown pass was a 17-yarder to sophomore Lee Taylor.

Sun-Times News Group