Jones leads Lyons to big upset win

Senior offensive lineman Tom Callahan believes Lyons has

been overlooked the entire season.

That will certainly change after the Lions stunned No. 3 Glenbard West 31-13

Saturday in Glen Ellyn to earn a three-way share of the West Suburban Silver championship.

"Emotions were high and we wanted to show everyone we could beat one of the

best teams in the state," Callahan said. "We were predicted to finish second

to last in the conference, so right from the beginning that kind of got

everyone (upset). It just gave us the chip on the shoulder we needed.

Everyone was so pumped up for this game and we knew we could beat them."

Lyons (8-1) handed Glenbard West (8-1) its first loss of the season and

improved to 5-1 in the Silver to get a share of the conference crown with

Glenbard West and York.

Glenbard West was looking to finish the regular season 9-0 for the third year in a row after losing the Class 7A state championship to Wheaton

Warrenville South in double overtime last season.

"It's very satisfying," Lyons coach Kurt Weinberg said. "We haven't had a lot

of respect, but hopefully we'll get some now."

Lyons made a statement with an impressive first-half performance and enjoyed a

21-7 halftime lead.

Lyons capitalized on a bad snap on a punt attempt when Matthew Harris tackled

the Glenbard West punter at his own 8. Three players later, LT quarterback

Brian Kelley punched the ball in from the 1 to put the Lions ahead 7-0 with

9:02 left in the first quarter.

Glenbard West answered just 18 seconds later when Nick Burrello (143 yards,

17 carries) sprinted 80 yards for a touchdown to pull the Hilltopppers even

at 7-7.

Lyons junior running back Jaime Jones then took over. Jones exploded for a

64-yard TD run to put the Lions ahead for good at 14-7 with 22 seconds left

in the first quarter. He then added a two-yard TD run that stretched the lead

to 21-7 with 1:14 left before halftime. Jones, who had 131 yards on 11

carries in the first half and finished with 161 yards on 23 carries, set up

the score with a 47-yard run.

Neither team scored in the third quarter, but Beau Warden pulled Glenbard

West within 21-13 with a 1-yard TD run with 9:12 remaining in the game.

LT's Chris Klotz came up with a big interception to stop a Glenbard West

drive and the Lions' defense finished the job.

Mike Pett extended Lyons' lead to 24-13 with a 21-yard field goal with 1:39

left and after four straight incompletions by the Hilltoppers, Jones sealed

the victory with a six-yard touchdown run with 33.1 on the clock.

Glenbard West starting quarterback Mike Matthew, who missed the last two

games, was injured on the last play of the first half and did not return

with Daver Glawe getting the call in the second half.

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