Byron defeats Lisle
BYRON - Lisle coach Paul Parpet Sr. wasn't in the mood to mince words when asked by a home team reporter what went wrong.
"Just give them credit. Reward them, they kicked the (crud) out of us and let's leave it at that," Parpet said.
The Lions' fate was sealed by halftime of Friday's 42-7 Class 3A playoff opener at Byron. The host and No. 8-seeded Tigers (8-2) scored on five of six first-half possessions. By contrast Lisle didn't record a first down until just more than nine minutes remained in the fourth quarter.
That achievement led to the highlight of the night for the No. 9 seed Lions (7-3). Grant Haen went around left end and got to the sideline in order to race 63 yards to keep Lisle from being shut out in any game for 2015.
"We had trouble running the ball but got a good push on the that play and some secondary blocks meant it was up to me the rest of the way," Haen said. "During halftime coach talked about not giving up; no one gave up and getting that touchdown says something about how we keep fighting."
"Alexander (Lange) had a real good trap block on that play," Parpet noted.
Otherwise the Lions' first postseason appearance since 2009 was all Byron.
Facing fourth-and-4 from its own 31, Byron caught Lisle off guard with a fake punt. The 15-yard pass from Payton Janssen to Nolan Bielskis became part of a 15-play, 74-yard drive capped by a 7-yard Zach Cogswell run.
"We saw something on film and it was obviously a risk," Byron coach Jeff Boyer said. "You fail and you look like a clown."
On Lisle's first possession the Tigers capitalized on a Seth Linhart interception. Byron's good fortune continued when Cogswell fumbled on third-and-7 at the Lisle 7-yard line only to have teammate Avery Carlson catch the ball and advance to the 2. He then covered the last 2 yards for a 14-0 lead.
Carlson had an encore 2-yard TD run, Jake Elsbury dove in from the 1, and Janssen hit Cogswell for a 21-yard touchdown reception 29 seconds prior to halftime.
"We felt with our size advantage we could move the ball going straight forward," Boyer said of a running game that saw 14 ballcarriers produce more than 300 yards rushing. "They all can carry the ball. We're fortunate that way."
With 63 yards on his touchdown run, Haen finished with 82 yards on 8 carries, while Mark McGrath ended with 28 on 9 carries.
When Parpet, a Hall of Fame coach for his success at Addison Trail, took over the Lisle program, his crew opened with an Interstate Eight Conference win over Peotone but then lost eight straight. That string reached nine after opening 2015 with a loss to Peotone, but one win later, a 21-7 league loss to Wilmington was still viewed as a positive by Parpet. Obviously, turning 1-8 into 7-3 with a playoff appearance is still an even more significant step forward.
"We had a great season. Six wins and beating teams like Herscher and Coal City are positives," Parpet said. "We had some key players banged up and lost momentum, but we're not making excuses. They were a much better team than us today."
As a junior, Haen remained optimistic.
"We'll be back next year," Haen said. "Last year was our first with Coach and we didn't know the schemes well enough. We had a lot of returning seniors and sophomores which contributed to this success. We'll keep playing with Lion pride."