Lees, Libertyville seize the moment
It was just a matter of time for Riley Lees and Libertyville.
After being stymied in the first half, Lees broke free in the second half, running for a pair of long touchdowns and tossing a touchdown pass to help lead the Wildcats past Fenwick 28-10 Saturday in the Class 7A quarterfinals at Morton West in Berwyn.
Libertyville (9-3) will be making its first semifinal appearance since 2004, when they won the state title. The Wildcats will host Cary-Grove, a 44-26 winner over Geneva.
"I am really proud of our effort," Libertyville coach Mike Jones said. "Our kids battled the whole time."
Indeed it was a battle for the Wildcats, who had trouble shaking free of Fenwick (7-5).
Libertyville and Lees struggled offensively in the first half. The Wildcats managed to take a 5-3 halftime lead on Lees' 2-yard run. But Fenwick had the Libertyville quarterback bottled up, holding him to just 5 yards on carries through the first half.
"I was handing the ball off and there were two guys coming with me after the play," Lees said. "I figured that was going to happen. But we made adjustments and our linemen made key blocks to spring me a few times."
It didn't take long in the second half to spring Lees.
On the first play of the Wildcats' second possession, Lees ran a read-option. After faking the ball to Sean Ferraro, Lees pulled it back and tucked it around right end, where he scampered 80 yards for the touchdown. Noah Moderwell added a conversion run to make it 14-3.
"Our offensive coaches made some great adjustments at halftime," Jones said. "And that score gave us some breathing room."
That breathing room was short-lived, as Fenwick put together its only touchdown drive. The Friars marched 62 yards on 11 plays with Jack Beneventi throwing a 5-yard pass to Pat Donahue to cut the lead to 14-10 with 4:19 left in the third quarter.
Libertyville then relied on the foot of punter Ben Kimpler and its defense led by Jordan McInerney to keep the Friars off the board from there.
Twice Kimpler was able to place punts inside the Fenwick 5-yard line, including once on a 60-yard punt.
"He is a great weapon," Jones said. "In a close game, field position is key."
And with the Friars stuck in their end of the field, the Libertyville defense went to work. McInerney, along with Joe Felsl, Kimpler, Mac Copeland, Moderwell and Ryan Moran, kept the Iowa-bound Beneventi (18-of-35, 152 yards) running for his life at times, sacking him 4 times.
"We teach that if you do your job and take care of your responsibility, everything will be all right," McInerney said. "We just had that oomph and that energy. We just stopped him all the time."
McInerney showed that energy midway through the final quarter with the outcome still in doubt.
After a terrific sack by Moran that forced a fumble, McInerney picked up the loose ball and hauled it 18 yards to the Fenwick 8. Two plays later, Lees connected with Henry Schmidt on a roll-out pass to the right to make it 21-10 with six minutes to play.
Lees ended any hopes of Fenwick comeback three minutes later when he ran 60 yards for the clinching score.
"We did everything we had to do to get the win," said Lees, who finished with 177 yards on 14 carries and was 6-of-17 for 75 yards. "We got over some early jitters. It was a good game overall for us."
Jones said he and his team look forward to playing for at least another week.
"We don't feel that we have played our best game yet," Jones said. "Obviously next week would be a great time to do that."