QB show rates 'A'

The battle that featured two of the state's best quarterbacks lived up to the hype Friday night in Frankfort.

Lincoln-Way East's Spencer Stanek tossed three touchdown passes, but it was Mount Carmel signal-caller Jordan Lynch who led a nearly unstoppable Caravan rushing offense as Mount Carmel rallied for a 34-31 win.

That earned the Caravan a spot in the Class 8A quarterfinals, where it will meet Marist.

Lynch rushed for 191 yards on 23 carries and scored two key third-quarter touchdowns to help the Caravan (9-2) erase a 24-17 halftime deficit. The senior's performance left Mount Carmel coach Frank Lenti almost speechless.

"He's the straw that stirs the drink," Lenti said. "What can you say about him? He makes plays.

"We've tried to open up the offense more because we knew he could make big plays for us. This is his third year on varsity, and this kind of atmosphere is nothing new to him."

On Mount Carmel's first second-half possession, Lynch dashed for 34 yards into Lincoln-Way East territory. After a 40-yard run on an end-around by Brent Butler moved the ball down to the 3, Lynch sneaked it in from there to help the Caravan tie the game at 24.

Then, with the clock winding down on the third quarter, it was Lynch scoring with his feet again, this time from 16 yards out to put Mount Carmel ahead for good.

"From studying film, we knew they were going to try to take away the pitch when we run the option," Lynch said. "We knew they'd leave me open to run. They just kept looking for the pitch all day, and my offensive line did a great job. Even when I got hit, the offensive line kept working and got huge second and third efforts."

Stanek (12-of-25 passing, 249 yards, 3 touchdowns) did everything he could to lead the Griffins back. After Lincoln-Way East (9-2) got the ball back while trailing 34-24 with under seven minutes left, Stanek helped make it a game again in a hurry.

On the first play of the possession, he found a streaking Eric Sawicki open and hit him in stride. Sawicki raced all the way to the end zone for an 80-yard score, and the Griffins cut the deficit to 34-31 with the PAT. The "drive" took just 11 seconds.

Lincoln-Way East got the ball back with one last shot, but Stanek was sacked twice, and his desperation toss on fourth down fell incomplete. Nonetheless, the quarterback who helped turned Lincoln-Way East's offense into a dynamic, wide-open attack earned high praise in his final game in Frankfort.

"He did a great job," Lynch said. "It was just back and forth and back and forth, and we knew we had to keep putting up points. It was a heck of a job by Lincoln-Way East."

"Spencer is a warrior in every sense of the word," Lincoln-Way East coach Rob Zvonar said. "In my opinion, he was the best quarterback in the state this year.

"He's going to keep improving and be a heck of a quarterback on Saturdays (at the college level)."