Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009

Joliet Catholic proves too much for Cahokia

Fake field goal that leads to touchdown helps Hilltoppers take early command

CAHOKIA -- Joliet Catholic's offense was as good as advertised Saturday.

But the Hilltoppers also made points with defense and trickery in their 35-12 victory over Cahokia in a second-round game of the Class 5A playoffs.

A fake field goal on an audible at the line of scrimmage in the first quarter gave Joliet Catholic its first touchdown, and the Comanches never fully recovered.

"We hadn't run a fake all year," said Hilltoppers sophomore Malin Jones, who took a shuffle pass from senior holder Jon Jaworski and raced into the end zone to put Joliet Catholic ahead 7-0. "They weren't prepared for it. I just got around the outside. It was a great pitch by our holder. Just execution, I guess."

The play put the Comanches in game-long catch-up mode, and although they rallied within 7-6, they could get no closer.

Joliet Catholic (9-2) advances to the quarterfinals, where they will play Washington (11-0), which defeated Sterling 28-21 on Saturday.

Cahokia, which had just three first downs, finished 9-2.

"We played a nice team --a heck of a team," Comanches senior Jimmie Hunt said. "They've got a beautiful history of (13) championships. They've got a well-put together team. They just executed and we didn't. They beat us on the line the majority of the time. Sometimes that's just how it is."

As he knelt to take the snap from center on what was expected to be a 28-yard field-goal attempt by senior Rob Cranmer, Jaworski noticed that Cahokia had overloaded the right side of the Hilltoppers' offensive line. He audibled for the fake to go left, and Jones had no difficult reaching the end zone.

"Coach (Dan) Sharp gave me the hand signal that we were going to do one of the pitches, but I had to make the call (to go) right or left," Jaworski said. "They overloaded the one side, so I took advantage of the wide side. I think it did a lot for us. We were up early and we just went from there."

The Hilltoppers rushed for 388 yards and had 18 first downs. Defensively, they had two interceptions and three times stifled the Comanches on fourth-down plays.

"I think, pretty much, they just beat us on the offensive and defensive lines," Cahokia coach Antwyne Golliday said. "When we did have kids in positions, we missed a lot of tackles. Offensively, we didn't get it going for some reason. But it was a good team. They wanted it better than we did."

Cahokia got within 7-6 on senior Patrick Ivy's 22-yard TD pass to senior Khyree Beckley with 4:02 to play in the first quarter.

But junior Josh Ferguson scored on a 47-yard TD that gave the Joliet Catholic a 14-6 lead, and Jones added a 4-yard TD run in the second quarter that made it 21-6. Jones finished with 155 yards on 22 carries. Ferguson had 108 yards on 15 carries.

The Comanches climbed within 21-12 on Hunt's 75-yard run on a fake punt in the third quarter, but Hilltoppers sophomore quarterback Anthony Maddie hit junior Alex Kolodziej with a 10-yard TD pass early in the fourth quarter, and senior Jordan Lyles closed the scoring with an 8-yard TD run with 3:52 to play.

"I thought the way we controlled the ball the last half of the third quarter and the fourth quarter was the key," Sharp said. "That was really big for us."

While the Hilltopper flourished in their running game, the Comanches stalled. They rushed for just 130 yards, with Hunt's fake punt accounting for 75. Ivy, meanwhile, was 8-for-17 for 119 yards.

"I thought what we did pretty good today was pressure, yet contain," Sharp said. "I don't think we let Ivy get out and hurt us. The one time he made a big pass completion (a 31-yard strike to junior Brandon Gates), he had that time. He was able to break tackles and be elusive."

Golliday knew the Comanches would have to play a near-perfect game to win. They didn't come close, which led to the result.

"My guys just didn't have it today, and that's the way it is," Golliday said. "The teams we beat, now we know how they feel. It's not a good feeling."