Short-handed Rangers fall to Streaks

Mather's Brian Shaw (middle) tries to break free from several Steinmetz defenders during last Friday's game against the Silver Streaks at Jorndt Field.
(Jason Brown/Staff Photographer)

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Despite losing another slew of starters before Friday's game against Steinmetz, Mather marched on and muscled its way to a two-point first half lead.

However, Steinmetz scored right before the half ended and tacked on another score in the second half, giving the Rangers a 22-8 loss.

"They had nothing to be ashamed of, I was proud of them," Mather head coach Paul Swiatly said. "We stayed in the game had a chance to win the game, I even felt at certain points we should've won the game, but we played hard and good, it's just a shame."

The Rangers countered Steinmetz's early touchdown in the first half to take an 8-6 lead. Omni Jimenez sprinted into the end zone and caught a four-yard touchdown pass. David Odukoya followed that up with a rush in for a two-point conversion and the lead.

Just before halftime Mather (0-5, 1-7 Illini Red-Bird) couldn't get the stop it needed, and Steinmetz capitalized to take a 14-8 halftime lead. Steinmetz intercepted a pass in the fourth and returned it for the final score.

Mather will play Corliss, 10 a.m. Saturday at Eckersall Stadium.

Lane lacked punch at the start of last Friday's game against Curie, but the Indians roared to life after the first quarter in a game for second place in the Illini Red Bird.

A blocked punt by Lane near the goal line was recovered by Casey O'Brien in the end zone, bringing Lane within four in the fourth quarter. Another blocked kick came minutes later, but Curie got its hands on a Lane punt this time, putting away the Indians 34-16.

"They jumped on us early, I don't think we came with a lot of focus," Lane head coach Rich Rio said. "We were down 20-3 right away before we started to get things going."

Missed tackles by Lane (6-2, 3-2) allowed Curie to score on its first snap of the game.

A Rudolfo Fransual 20-yard field goal gave Lane its only points during the first quarter.

Looking for a big play Lane's defense forced a fumble and Rashee Allen recovered the loose ball on the 10-yard line. That set up Frank Bougher's run into the end zone in the second quarter, but the Indians were still one step behind.

In the third, O'Brien pounced on the blocked punt to put Lane down just 20-16 with time to spare. The linebacker led the team in tackles and turned in another outstanding effort.

Yet Curie turned the momentum right back around with its blocked punt, and they followed that up with a fumble recovery for a touchdown and a insurmountable lead.

"We just didn't play a very good game," Rio said. "They did what they had to do. We didn't tackle very well early and didn't play."

Linebacker Ervin Velic and defensive end Andre Alvarez also led a strong defense from the second quarter-on, as the 'D' tightened up and didn't allow a touchdown after halftime.

"They played very well, had a good effort and made a lot of tackles," Rio said.

Lane will now face Dunbar in the Illini playoffs, 7 p.m. Thursday at Lane Stadium.

The Indians will be looking to advance starting with a bang.

"They should realize it's the playoffs and be ready to play," Rio said.

Both teams were looking for their first conference win and in the end Lake View (2-6, 1-5) prevailed over Amundsen (1-7, 0-5)

Going against Catholic Green opponent Guerin, Gordon Tech needed a big win vs. the second place team in conference but fell short.

The Rams face Loyola Academy, 1 p.m. Saturday in Wilmette.

Noble Street had a chance to clobber Kelvyn Park last Saturday but ultimately lost 22-12 at Hanson Stadium.

Wells wins by trying to take advantage of every asset it has.

The Raiders might have pulled out another great win but Wells was hit with too many injuries at once, leading to a 23-6 loss to Farragut last Saturday at Jorndt Field.

Down 6-0 in the first quarter, Wells wanted to counter immediately. On the ensuing drive DeMarcus Miller gunned a pass 30 yards through the air to Keenan Smith, who turned on the throttles to take it another 30 yards for a 60-yard touchdown and an 8-6 lead. However Smith would re-injure a pulled adductor muscle in his hip, taking away one of Wells' most potent weapons.

Still the Raiders trailed just 15-6 heading into halftime after taking advantage of a couple turnovers as Miller struggled to overcome an agitated rib injury.

"It was a pretty close game throughout -- we had two other opportunities in the first half," Wells head coach Greg Konieczko said. "We were just hampered by injuries. Turnovers hurt us, but they were long turnovers, like punts."

Wells fell further behind when a botched snap on a punt led to a score and a 23-6 deficit.

Once again Wells wanted, and needed, to go for it and tried whatever it could. However, Farragut was ready for late game attempts downfield and interceptions ended crucial drives.

"In the second half we moved the ball some, we tried throwing deep," Konieczko said. "We played physically, we just had too many turnovers. We probably stretched our offensive playbook more than anyone else this year."

The defensive line put together another solid effort led by Tim Edwards, Timmy Gibbs, Jordan McGee and Nathan Konieczko.

Wells wouldn't have stood a chance, though, without the workhorse effort of Juan Oropez on offense and defense.

"Juan played a real courageous game, he hardly ever came out," Konieczko said. "The whole team played a real good game. The defensive line really stepped up.

"Chris McGinnis probably played his best defensive game he ever played, He had their quarterback under pressure the whole time."

Pumped up at the start Wells withstood earlier season struggles and emerged as a team for an entire game.

"We finally played four quarters of good hard football, its just a shame we couldn't have done that earlier in the year," Konieczko said. "It's a credit to the kids they kept playing and finally persevered and realized what they could do. I hope it carries on next year wherever they go."