Secondary anything but that at Lincoln-Way East

Updated: August 23, 2011 9:14PM

The quarterback, running backs and wide receivers get most of the attention on a football team, and Lincoln-Way East is no different.

Blake Winkler returns to direct the offense from a 9-2 team that in 2010 averaged 36 points per game, using the talents of receivers J.J. Robertson and Jay Yancy and running back Tyler Starke.

“Blake will be the first to tell you he’s got a tremendous amount of weapons,” East coach Rob Zvonar said. “They’ve got a chance to be one of the best offensive skill groups that we’ve had here.”

Those players deserve to be the primary focus, but don’t overlook the secondary. Zvonar isn’t.

“We’re excited about that group,” he said. “They all were starters last year, or at least part of the year.”

Safeties/linebackers Joe Tomasik and Kevin Slawkowski and cornerbacks Nate Royer and Erik Stanek are the last line of defense.

“Tomasik and Slawkowski, they’re versatile enough to walk up and be an outside linebacker and they can go play deep coverage,” Zvonar said. “That’s going to add to our defensive playbook and allow us to be a little more versatile.”

Zvonar described Royer and Stanek as the “top-notch students” of the group who last season “got a tremendous amount of experience under fire” as juniors.

“They were good enough to play as juniors, but at certain times they took their lumps a little bit,” Zvonar said. “They grew as players and grew as young men. They’re a confident group that communicates well back there.”

Trying to contain Winkler and the offense will be difficult for every opponent, but the Griffins’ secondary has to do it on a daily basis.

“Every day in practice we stick with the offense, we’re neck and neck with them,” Tomasik said. “They’re a great offense, and we’ve got a great defense.”

“Last year we had such a good group,” Slawkowski said. “We all really bonded. It’s good to know we can trust each other out there.”

There’s also plenty of talent on the defensive line that’s anchored by tackle Matt Solner (6-foot-2, 260) and includes Joel Magrum and Kevin Bayer. Linebackers Jake Aleck and Kyle Langenderfer are returning starters.

Offensively, tackle Alex Hern (6-2, 265) returns to bolster the line joined by Frank Toland (6-3, 265), Dan Patteson, Josh Bottoms and sophomore Nick Allegretti (6-3, 260).

Lincoln-Way East opens Friday against Edwardsville at Illinois State University’s Hancock Stadium in Normal.

“It’s fun to play in that venue,” Zvonar said. “The kids had a tremendous experience last year. It just worked out they were looking for a game and we were, too. We thought it would be kind of neat to play at a college stadium.”

After their home opener against Dunbar, the Griffins host Lockport in their first SouthWest Suburban Blue contest. East’s top challengers in the Blue will be Homewood-Flossmoor and Bolingbrook.

“It’s going to be a tough conference,” Stanek said. “It’s going to be a grind. If we work hard and stick to it, we’ll be fine.”

One difference between East and a lot of teams is while they talk about making the state playoffs, the Griffins talk of how far they expect to advance in the playoffs. Three straight seasons of failing to get beyond the second round is strong motivation for East.

“We hope to play deep into the playoffs,” Zvonar said. “That’s certainly one of the goals of this group, to play past that second round.”

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