Lockport rolls over Joliet Central

Updated: September 16, 2011 11:50PM

Billy Reed threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as Lockport scored early and often in a 38-6 victory over Joliet Central in a SouthWest Suburban Blue battle Friday night at Lockport.

The two touchdown passes were the first of the season for the Porters, who improved to 3-1 and 1-1.

“When I threw the first one, I came over and smiled and told coach ‘that’s our first passing touchdown,’” said Reed, who didn’t play until the second half of the second game this season because of a knee injury. “I’m feeling 100 percent now.”

Lockport forced two first quarter turnovers and turned them into 10 points. The first came on the opening kickoff as Anthony Russo recovered a fumble at the Steelmen 21. Dexter Taylor took it in from there on the first play from scrimmage and the Porters had a 7-0 lead 15 seconds into the game.

On the next possession, Reed ran a rollout to his right, before reversing direction to his left. He picked up a key block from wide receiver Jeff Pattison and rambled in for a 29-yard touchdown.

Following a fumble recovery by Connor Wilson, Steve Fankam kicked a 37-yard field goal to make it 17-0 with 57.8 seconds left in the first quarter.

On a fourth-and-six play, Reed hit Zack Wolfe on a 24-yard touchdown pass for his first TD toss. A three yard run by Taylor (7 carries - 43 yards) made it 31-0 with 3:37 left in the first half and that was the score at halftime.

“Our receivers do such a good job of blocking that we wanted to give them a chance to score,” Lockport coach Don McKillip said. “To have two touchdown passes makes everyone happy.”

The Porters opened the second half with a touchdown on a 12-yard pass from Reed to Sam Stramaglia. Reed, who was 4-of-10 for 61 yards and added 45 yards rushing, left the game then as Lockport substituted freely the rest of the way.

Joliet Central scored on a 5-yard pass from Carlos Curry to Drakkar Williams on a fourth-and-goal play with 6:45 remaining in the game. Curry had 20 carries for 90 yards and junior running back Malik Neal finished with 16 carries for 108 yards, including runs of 31 and 48 yards.

“We had some nice runs, but we want to have those in a competitive situation,” Joliet Central coach Mike Maloney said. “We kept battling out there and (senior lineman) Zach Koetz has been a warrior for us. He’s played every down on both sides of the ball the last two games.”

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