Bolingbrook turns to No. 1 for a lift

Bolingbrook quarterback Brad Geever dives for a touchdown against Lincoln-Way North on Sept. 19.
(Terence Guider-Shaw/For the Herald News)

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BOLINGBROOK -- In a bid to break from tendency, Bolingbrook coach John Ivlow called for junior quarterback Brad Geever to come out throwing the ball.

He misfired on his first pass in the Raiders' 47-7 high school football victory over Lincoln-Way North on Friday night. His second was low -- and intercepted by North's Daniel Lux at the 23.

The Raiders (4-0) dodged a bullet when Ramone Gordon blocked a 37-yard field goal attempt by North's Joe Pergolizzi. Then, after going three-and-out on their next series, they went back to No. 1 -- Jamel Martin.

He busted loose on a 70-yard touchdown run that electrified a big home crowd and generated a buzz on the Raiders' sideline. Can you say ESPN Top 10 High School Play of the Week?

Martin, a 6-foot, 190-pound junior, went on to rush for a game-high 139 yards on 13 carries in the Southwest Suburban Conference crossover. He scored his second touchdown on a 4-yard run.

He will score more points. He will rush for more yardage. He will be hard-pressed to duplicate his zigzag of a run through the Phoenix defense. He burst through a hole at the line of scrimmage, then cut to his left, cut back to his right and finally cut back to the left again.

"I'd rate my blockers a 100 and my coach 100 because they did everything for me," Martin said. "I just found the holes. Yeah, I cut so many times I was kind of confused there myself."

His teammates were in awe.

"Oh, I love that guy," defensive back Alex McNulty said. "That run -- it was unbelievable. I thought he was going to get caught there a couple of times. But he's so shifty. He's only a junior, so you're going to be looking for more in the future out of him. I think he's going to be the best back that ever has come out of Bolingbrook High School. He's a helluva running back."

Much of the rest of the credit for the Raiders' fourth straight victory went to a defense that forced seven turnovers, including five interceptions, and limited North to 110 yards total offense. Bolingbrook's front four of Gordon, Bryan Mesik, Roosevelt Holliday and Brandon Tucker turned 13 into their lucky number -- as in North's No. 13, junior quarterback Tait Erikson.

The four harassed Erikson into a 10-of-28 passing performance for 87 yards. He rarely had time to set his feet in the pocket, let alone look downfield. He threw five interceptions, to five different Raiders -- McNulty, DeMarcus Calvin, Maurice Armstead, Brandon Westphal and Maurice Killingsworth.

McNulty also put a jarring hit on Erikson after he scrambled to field a high snap deep in his own territory on a punt play, North trailing 14-0 after a 1-yard touchdown run by Geever. The hit prevented Erikson from getting the punt off and forced a fumble. Mesik recovered.

And Geever connected on a 9-yard touchdown pass to extend Bolingbrook's lead to 20-0.

"Actually, my job was to stay back," McNulty said. "But I saw it went over his head. So, I decided to take a chance. I knew I could get there. He tried to pick it up and kick it, but I wasn't going to let him get it off. I put all my might into him and tried to knock him down so he couldn't get rid of the ball."

The Raiders led 34-0 before North (0-4) scored on a 25-yard fumble return by Brian Wolfe, the result of a bad exchange between Martin and backup quarterback Barry Wolff. Bolingbrook's John Seigler rushed for 102 yards on 12 carries. He scored on a 3-yard run.

"We came out healthy," Ivlow said. "It looked sloppy at times. We've got a good ballclub, and we're just happy. We're one step closer to our first goal, which is to get our five wins for the playoffs."