Lyons remains undefeated, tops Oak Park

Lyons Township rallied for a late score in Friday's West Suburban Conference Silver Division showdown against Oak Park-River Forest and then the defense made those points stand in the waning moments as the Lions captured a hard-fought 14-9 victory over the Huskies in Oak Park.

With the triumph, LT improved to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the Silver.

"Extremely ugly – a defensive win," said LT coach Kurt Weinberg, when asked to describe the win. "(The Huskies) got a bunch of yards but our defense held them and didn't let them score very much. We had a good offensive drive to start the game and a good one to finish the game."

The Lions entered the matchup scoring an average of 33.5 points per game but only managed a pair of touchdowns against a stingy OPRF defense. After LT defensive back Will Konstant came up with a fumble recovery early in the first quarter, the Lions scored three plays later on a 13-yard touchdown run by Jaime Jones (18 carries, 91 yards). The big play of the drive was a 22-yard completion from quarterback Brian Kelley to wide receiver Dylan Fiedler.

The Huskies (1-4, 0-3 Silver) got three points back on a 29-yard field goal by Isaac Chadri as time expired on the second quarter. After a scoreless third quarter by both teams, OPRF took the lead when tailback Zach Draus punched in from the 3-yard line with 6:35 remaining in the game. Draus, a senior who was filling in for injured starting tailback Tony Stapleton, was a force to be reckoned with. He finished with 187 yards on 33 carries. During the 11-play, 80-yard scoring drive, Draus ran the ball 10 times for 70 yards.

Undaunted, LT marched down the field on the hard-nosed running of Jones, a sweet reverse run by Mark Sewall that went for 10 yards and then Kelley and Fiedler connected again on a 22-yard pass. This one was a touchdown though with 3:30 left in the contest.

"Brian and Dylan have a good rapport," Weinberg said. "Dylan has made some huge plays for us, especially in crucial situations."

OPRF tried to get something going on its last drive but Lions linebacker Frank DiGioia finally got to quarterback John Phelan and sacked him at the Huskies own nine-yard line. The Huskies then had to punt.

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