Montini breezes to win vs. DeKalb
Feeling the flag-stiffening wind out of the south, Montini coach Chris Andriano's best decision came before Saturday's Class 6A football quarterfinal at DeKalb.
Winning the coin toss, Montini deferred to kick and defend the south end zone. It was no coincidence that 8 of Michael Cooney's kickoffs went for touchbacks, the Broncos scored their 7 touchdowns in the north end zone or punts against the wind went for distances like 0, 1 and 8 yards.
“He calls these certain things, like giving them the kickoff or giving them the ball coming out of half, he does that for a reason,” said Montini quarterback Justin Blake, who directed the No. 1-seeded Broncos to a 49-14 win over the No. 5 Barbs.
“And you know, ‘Coach A' is kind of old, but we just go along with it because he's kind of like a guru. We just pay attention to what he says.”
That savvy young man ran for 104 yards, 3 touchdowns and completed 5 of 9 passes for 89 yards, 2 touchdowns. Tailback Prince Walker ran 25 times for 197 yards with a 1-yard touchdown run.
Montini (12-0) doesn't need Mother Nature's help but got it nonetheless to reach a seventh straight state semifinal game, against No. 2 Prairie Ridge, a 42-13 winner over No. 3 Riverside-Brookfield. The game will kick off at 1 p.m. next Saturday in Lombard.
Starting at or inside DeKalb's 50-yard line on its first four possessions, Montini led 21-0 with 2:36 still to play in the first quarter on Walker's 1-yard run behind right guard Joe Spivak, a 38-yard swing pass to Dylan Maher, and Blake's 2-yard scamper, untouched.
“When you stop them and you give us half of a field, we can do anything we want with the offense then,” Andriano said. “We were able to set the tone with field position, and once you get ahead you want to keep that momentum going, and we did the same thing in the second half.”
In the first half DeKalb (9-3) gained 2 first downs and had 40 yards of offense to Montini's 203 yards. The Barbs' spread offense didn't cross midfield until the last four minutes of the second quarter — then fumbled, Montini cornerback Mitch West covering the loose ball in the end zone to secure the 21-0 halftime lead.
“If we didn't maintain possessions and get first downs the punts were like 20 yards long, so that gave them short yardage to score,” DeKalb coach Matt Weckler said after the Barbs' longest playoff run in 35 years ended. “I don't think it would have mattered, really, such a good football team that they are. But at the same time it affected the game for both teams.”
Montini blitzed DeKalb for 28 third-quarter points. Blake went head over heels to score on the Broncos' first possession out of halftime, then in the space of four snaps West stripped a receiver for another turnover and scored on a 35-yard touchdown catch.
“If they drove we just kept our minds straight and we just did what we're supposed to do, and that was to shut them down,” West said.
They didn't completely, quarterback Derek Kyler going 5-of-6 passing to get within 35-7 on a touchdown pass to Cole Tucker — only to see Montini's Will Smith score on a 35-yard run less than a minute later. Behind linemen Spivak, Michael Ross, Robert Gannon, Sam Detmers and Justin Cajigas the Broncos ran for 330 yards.
“The line, they always do a good job and they did even better today,” Walker said.