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Isaac, Joliet Catholic get leg up on Warriors
Updated: November 23, 2011 9:35PM
For the first couple of series, the Lincoln-Way West defense showed it had a plan for stopping Joliet Catholic’s vaunted offense.
The Hilltoppers managed one first down total in their first two possessions and hardly were looking like the machine that has scored points at will virtually all season.
But on the third possession, junior wingback Ty Isaac went into his video-game mode, breaking free on three quick moves when he seemingly was trapped and journeying 67 yards for the first of his three touchdowns.
The switch had been flipped as the Hilltoppers rolled to a 48-14 victory Friday in the Class 5A opening-round playoff match-up at ATI Field at Joliet Memorial Stadium. That sets up a trip to rival Morris next weekend.
Isaac finished with 165 yards in 12 carries, Malin Jones with 143 in 13 attempts and Tyler Reitz with 104 in eight carries to spearhead an attack that netted 556 total yards, including 458 on the ground.
Jones chipped in with a 31-yard touchdown run, Reitz with a 49-yarder and Nick Rodriguez with a 23-yarder.
“That’s one of the great things about blocking for these guys,” Hilltoppers senior offensive tackle Jake Jankowski said. “You make the smallest opening, and they’re gone.”
Not to be outdone, the Joliet Catholic defense shared the spotlight. A week after allowing monstrous statistics and 56 points in a loss to Marist, the Hilltoppers (8-2) blanked the Warriors (7-3) until the fourth quarter, when senior quarterback Kyle Millner hooked up with Brad Watson on a 34-yard screen pass and Adam Slattery with an 86-yard flea-flicker for touchdowns.
“We were holding them pretty good for a while,” said Joliet Catholic linebacker Austin Bolton, who made eight tackles and recovered an onside kick that led to the first of two Isaac Grashoff field goals. “We got caught off guard a little there in the fourth quarter.
“But I think we came out fired up this week, and that was big. We played physical early.”
“That was the thing, how physical our guys were on defense,” said Hilltoppers coach Dan Sharp, whose team held West to 51 rushing yards. Millner passed for 266, but much of it after the outcome had been decided.
“They’re a good program and you could see they were very motivated after last week,” Warriors coach Mark VanderKooi said. “We couldn’t run the ball on them.”
West lost 285-pound junior offensive lineman Colin McGovern to a neck injury in the third quarter. The delay was lengthy because of the precautions that had to be taken. McGovern was taken to the hospital for X-rays and reportedly was doing well.
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