Last-second touchdown leads Thornton

Updated: March 22, 2011 5:24PM

Options are only as good as how you use them.

Charles Knowles used his brilliantly in Thornton's thrilling 32-27 SouthWest Suburban Red victory Saturday over visiting Lincoln-Way West.

There were 10 seconds on the clock and the Wildcats, trailing 27-26, were at the Lincoln-Way West 7 when the senior quarterback took the snap from center.

Option No. 1, on the right side, was senior Demetrius Hardwick. Knowles looked. Not open.

So he looked to the other side at option No. 2, junior Jamel Frazier. He became the chosen one.

"I was open. I saw that they were playing back on me," Frazier said. "So (before the play) I told him to look for me in the corner of the end zone."

It was a perfect throw, and game-winning catch.

"I went through the reads and I saw him open," Knowles said. "I just took my chance."

It was Frazier's second TD catch of the game. Earlier, he caught a pass from Knowles and raced to a 64-yard score.

Knowles was 19 of 31 for 236 yards and scored once himself from eight yards, while Damien Bell rushed 27 times for 250 yards and two touchdowns for Thornton (6-1, 4-1).

Nick Bellamy (30 carries, 155 yards) scored on runs of 31, five and six yards, and Richard Kaemerer on a 50-yard pass from Justin Butterfield for Lincoln-Way West (5-2, 3-2).

The game-winning play capped a masterful two-minute, 69-yard drive in which Knowles calmly completed seven passes, his favorite targets Hardwick and Terrell Franklin.

With the clock his enemy, Knowles was for the most part left without his best weapon, the speedy running back Bell.

Bell earlier had carved up Lincoln-Way West's defense with several flashy runs, two of which went for touchdowns from 41 and 43 yards.

The heat, nor a blow to the chest, could keep him off the field for long.

"This was our last regular-season game at home. I had to leave it on the field," Bell said, smiling. "Oh, man. I didn't think it was going to be this hot today. I was cramping up. But I got used to it."

Lincoln-Way West, which led early 13-0, roared back from a 26-13 deficit to go back in front on back-to-back, fourth-quarter touchdowns by Bellamy.

"We just needed one stop," Warriors coach Mark Vander Kooi said. "We were just trying to do whatever we could.

"Hats off to Bill (Mosel) and his kids. They kept their composure down the stretch and moved the ball methodically on us and put it in. Obviously we're disappointed, but Bill should be proud of his kids. They did a great job."

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