Cougars demolish Golden Tigers

Chicago Academy's Arjon Heard (right) tries to get around the Noble Street defense last Saturday. The Cougars cruised to a 45-0 victory in the Inter-City North home game.
(Joel Wintermantle/For Pioneer Press)

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Chicago Academy added another convincing Inter-City North win to its resume as the Cougars crushed Noble Street Charter 45-0 on the new turf field at Chicago Academy last Saturday.

"We just take it one game at a time and don't deviate from what we've been doing all season," Cougars head coach Elbert Kern said. "That's doing what we do best: Pound the ball up inside with the triple."

Chicago Academy (4-1, 3-0) scored early and often against the Golden Tigers (3-2, 1-2) while the defense was pretty much spotless.

The Cougars first score came on a 23-yard touchdown run by James Lockett who finished the day with nine carries for 103 yards. Jamal Suleiman helped convert the two-point try on a pass to Trevor Sumlin with 6:06 to play in the first quarter for an 8-0 lead.

Suleiman struck next for the Cougars as he raced into the end zone on a 18-yard touchdown run. Suleiman hooked up with Deonte Jones on the two-point conversion for a 16-0 lead with 3:31 left in the first quarter.

Noble Street's defense played much better for the next 14 minutes but their offense still couldn't find the end zone and Chicago Academy would strike again.

With just 4.4 seconds on the clock Suleiman connected with Jones on a 14-yard pass to the Golden Tigers four-yard line. Chicago Academy quickly called timeout and Suleiman took the next snap and juked his way into the end zone as the clock expired. The extra point kick by Satorie Brown gave the Cougars a 23-0 lead at the break.

"The coaches told us how hard we had to come out and play and all week in practice we put all our efforts in," Suleiman said. "It's a very big difference from (last year). Everyone is very happy right now."

Chicago Academy continued to pour it on in the second half as they added three more touchdowns: a 38-yard run by Lockett, a six-yard run by Mychal Jackson and a 12-yard run by their backup quarterback.

"We basically just did what we do all the time: Just run it," said Jackson who finished the day with 87 yards rushing on 10 carries. "We executed and we made our blocks.

What continues to make Chicago Academy so hard to stop is the amount of playmakers on the team. The opposing team can not focus on just one player because someone else will step up.

"If they're always biting on me, then it makes it easier for James Lockett to do his thing and he had two touchdowns (last Saturday)," Jackson said.

The conference title could very well be on the line this week when Chicago Academy hosts Uplift, 1 p.m. Saturday.

Both teams are undefeated in conference and the loser is going to be in pretty bad shape in the race for a conference crown.

"It's going to be a good game between us and Uplift," Suleiman said. "We just have to come out and play hard like we do every week."

"It's going to be a competitive game (Saturday) and I think the kids will be up for the challenge," Kern added. "These kids love to get after people. They have confidence in themselves and they believe in what we've taught them."

With the way Chicago Academy has been handling the competition in the Inter-City North a bit of a rhetorical question had to be asked.

"If Chicago Academy was in the Big Shoulders conference would I win the conference?" Kern said, repeating the question. "The way the kids played and the way they have been playing, I don't know if we would win the conference because there are some good teams, but we could compete and we'd do well. But winning the conference with a first-year coach and with new players it would be hard to determine."