Sunday, Nov. 01, 2009

Knights can't hang with Hilltoppers

JOLIET -- The Joliet Catholic Academy defense has never been better. The idea, as 235-pound senior tackle Tyler Gannon said, was to "punch 'em in the mouth."

The Hilltoppers' offense, well, that's where junior wingback Josh Ferguson entered the picture. Enough said.

JCA held Troy Triad to negative yardage until a fourth-quarter drive and Ferguson danced and juked his way to four long touchdown runs as the Hilltoppers opened the Class 5A playoffs Saturday afternoon with a 48-7 thumping of Triad at Memorial Stadium.

Next up for the Hilltoppers (8-2) is the long trip to Cahokia next weekend.

Triad (7-3) came to Joliet with the plan to move the chains with its triple-option offense, keeping JCA's potent offense on the sidelines. The Hilltoppers' defense never let it happen.

Triad, in fact, had one first down through three quarters, that on a penalty. And the Knights had minus-8 total yards before embarking on a scoring drive against JCA's second-team defense.

"I thought we would be able to move the ball better than we did," Triad coach Paul Bassler said. "Not having a first down (except one on a penalty) until late in the game killed us. Against a game like this, we needed to move the chains.

"We had a great week of practice and I thought we were ready to roll. But when we got out on the field, just before kickoff, our guys had that dazed look in their eyes. And then they (Hilltoppers) came out and scored twice real quick."

Despite the loss, Bassler said his Triad program learned from the game.

"Our guys experienced playing against one of the best programs in Illinois," Bassler said. "We have a lot of young kids, and hopefully this will help them. Joliet Catholic is a class organization and program and we're trying to build that at Triad."

From the time JCA defensive end Rob Cranmer spilled Triad quarterback Kristian Moon for a 2-yard loss on the opening play from scrimmage, there no doubt doubt who was in charge along the line of scrimmage.

The Hilltoppers' defensive front of Cranmer, Gannon, Michael Madrigal and John Broderick, backed by linebackers such as Stockman, Zach Dolph and Mike Mettille, safeties Travis Jensen and Garrett Earl and corners Matt Smith and Breion Tucker, were not about to shirk their responsibilities.

"Basically, we just had to fire out and set the offensive line back 2 yards," Gannon said. "You know, punch 'em in the mouth."

Thirteen of the Knights' 35 offensive snaps went for negative yardage. They finished with 40 net yards. They lost two fumbles and Tucker intercepted a pass.

"Our coaches blitzed me a lot," said Stockman, who blew up play after play with his timing and quickness. "The only kid I have to deal with is Gannon."

Meaning?

"Well, when we blitz, we try to outsmart the offensive linemen," Stockman said. "Tyler sets up on one side of the offensive lineman's shoulder and takes him the other way. I go through the hole that's created. We confuse people sometime."

Stockman was in on four of the plays for negative yardage. Gannon and Cranmer were in on three each, Earl had two sacks, Dolph and Andy Roth recovered fumbles, Broderick shared a tackle for loss and reserve linebacker Austin Able had a sack.

Just before halftime, Gannon and Cranmer combined to sack Moon and force a fumble.

"We played a lot better in the second quarter," Bassler said. "We wanted to come out in the second half playing like we did in the second quarter, but we didn't have it."