Stars' offense shines vs. Rich Central

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

An offense that went AWOL one week ago returned in sometimes spectacular fashion Friday night for Rich South.

It was the defense, however, that made the most critical plays in the Stars' 30-26 SICA South victory over visiting Rich Central.

The most critical was made by Rich South linebacker Thomas Mathis.

Trailing just 22-20, Rich Central was poised to score from the Rich South 5 after a 61-yard run by fleet running back Giorgio Bowers. Bowers was the choice to do it, and after taking the handoff from quarterback Dajon Sherman he tried to power through the line.

It turned out, there wasn¹t even any real hard contact. Mathis, instead, stripped the ball from Bowers and took off in the other direction. He was finally pulled down at midfield.

"I saw him coming to the hole," Mathis said. "When I felt the ball in my hands I just took it out. After they made that big run, I knew we had to come back strong. I made a play, everybody on the team made plays. It just happened that my play just came at the right time."

Stars cornerback Quentin Boyd made the other big defensive play with 2:05 remaining in the game when he ran back an interception 36 yards for a touchdown. Combined with a Jeremy Lewis to Tobias Sellers PAT pass, it put Rich South ahead 30-20. It proved vital when Rich Central scored with 1:30 remaining to play on a 30-yard run by Bowers, his fourth TD of the night.

"You have to play hard, four quarters," Boyd said. "I knew something was going to happen. I was scared, but we did good."

Lewis had probably the most interesting night.

Starting at halfback, Lewis followed up a 1-yard Boyd run for a TD in the second period with a 2-point carry. He broke a 14-14 tie early in the quarter by throwing a halfback-option pass to James Blair for a 53-yard TD, and followed it up with another PAT toss to Blair.

"The 28 crack-toss pass," Lewis said, smiling. "We¹ve been going over that all week. I just switched my position this game. Coach said, 'We've got a quarterback at running back, so let's go ahead and do it.' We did the '28 pass' and it worked out good."

The win was a big one for Rich South, which moved one step closer to a state playoff berth at 4-3. The Stars also moved into a second-place tie in conference with Rich East (at 2-1), with both one game behind Crete-Monee.

Rich Central (1-6, 0-3) did a superb imitation of a team that was playing as if it had a playoff berth on the line.

The Olympians moved the ball well on the ground, especially Bowers (16 carries, 138 yards), who scored on runs of 7, 4 and 30 yards, and turned a short pass from Sherman into a 39-yard TD play. Twice they went big distances for scores. For the few offensive mistakes they did commit, however, they were made to pay dearly.

"I don¹t like coming up short in a game I know we could have won," Rich Central coach Steve Tadlock said. "Both of my best backs fumbled tonight, and we can¹t have turnovers. I mean, I don¹t mind interceptions. What¹s that old saying? Two out of three things that can happen when you throw the ball are bad. And I know that.

"So I don¹t worry about interceptions. But I hate fumbles, especially on plays that we work on in practice, and should make. Oh, well. Back to the drawing board."