Friday, Nov. 06, 2009

Another Lincoln-Way foe awaits O'Fallon in football playoffs

A week after beating Central, Panthers will take on powerful East

O'FALLON -- Another Lincoln-Way team stands in the way of the O'Fallon Panthers in the second round of the Class 7A playoffs.

After conquering Lincoln-Way Central 16-0 last Friday in New Lenox, the Panthers (7-3) earned a home game against Frankfort-based Lincoln-Way East (9-1) at 6 p.m. today. A win would advance O'Fallon into the third round for the fourth time in school history and the first time since 2004.

The Griffins defeated visiting Belleville West 35-7 last week.

"They score a lot of points and don't give up many," Panthers coach Brandon Joggerst said. "They've got a pretty good combination going. Their offense really creates a lot of problems. They're big up front and the offense they run, they run it really effectively."

Lincoln-Way East, which has scored 388 points, has a running game led by Kevin Starke (803 yards) and a dangerous passing attack behind quarterback Ryne Van Gennep, who is 119-for-193 (62 percent) for 1,675 yards and 16 touchdowns. Two talented receivers, Brady Jackson and Alex Evans, complete the package.

"He runs really hard. If they run the ball, they're going to give it to him," Joggerst said of Starke, who had 15 carries for 80 yards against West.

"But they're not afraid to throw it, that's for sure. They've got two excellent wide receivers. (Van Gennep) throws the ball really well. They've got tall wide receivers out there. One's 6-5, the other's about 6-3. They're athletic, so you can't prepare so much for the run and get burned by the pass."

Van Gennep was 15-for-18 for 186 yards and two TDs against West.

Lincoln-Way East finished second to Bolingbrook in the Southwest Suburban Conference. Bolingbrook handed the Griffins their only loss, a 46-24 decision in week seven.

"We're moving into a team that is an upper-echelon team in their conference," Joggerst said. "I think our kids are just looking at this as a team that was second in their conference. I guess from a mental standpoint, our kids are going to be ready to go and they're going to play hard.

"They're a great program, but our kids don't know much about their tradition, nor are they concerned about it. We know they're sort of the team that's one of the top five programs in the state, with a lot of rich history, but our kids just look at them as another team on the radar. I think we're going to be excited in that regard to play them."

Joggerst said the Panthers must capitalize better on offense. Last week, both of their touchdowns came from their defense.

Senior Tivon Taylor recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for one score, and returned a fumble for another TD.

"We have to put up some points offensively," Joggerst said. "We didn't score offensively last week. We're going to have to score points to win the game. We have to do a better job of scoring once we get inside the red zone. We did it last week a few times and we didn't have any points to show for it. We have to put up touchdowns."

O'Fallon senior quarterback John Betten has thrown for 1,269 yards and nine touchdowns, completing 79-of-155 passes. Senior tailbacks B.J. Hendrix (735 yards, five TDs) and Erin Lewis (529 yards, four TDs) get the bulk of the carries.

"We've got to be effective running the ball," Joggerst said. "We feel like there's some matchups in the passing game that we can exploit a little bit. We've got to run the ball to set up the pass."

Defense has been the Panthers' ally this season. Their 117 points allowed are the fewest in the Southwestern Conference.

"I think we have to continue to play sound defense," Joggerst said. "They're an offensive juggernaut. They haven't scored less than 24 points all year. Our defense has been our rock for us all year. Hopefully, when those two collide, we can come out the winner in that battle."