Lindal's TD caps victory for Warren Blue Devils

It wasn't pretty, but the Warren Blue Devils started the 2008 football season with a win.

And as new Trevians head coach Matt Irvin said, "This is a results-oriented business."

Warren started off the season with a big 24-17 victory.

In the fourth quarter, the game was deadlocked at 17-17 after New Trier's Charlie Polan scored on a 3-yard run with 7:17 left.

But Warren answered with a 57-yard drive, punctuated by a 5-yard touchdown run by debuting sophomore Tom Lindal for the game's final score.

"I thought we were definitely able to keep it together at the end of the game, and I'm really proud of our guys," Warren coach Dave Mohapp said.

But while the end was spectacular, the rest of the game was a bit sloppy. Between the two teams there were 3 turnovers, while each team gave up a rare special teams touchdown.

"This was a game where we didn't play particularly well," Mohapp said. "We didn't play so well in a lot of areas and we really struggled at times. But I was happy with the way we stayed together for the last couple of series."

Warren's special-teams miscue came on a blocked punt as Anthony Portanova's kick was blocked at the 5-yard line by New Trier's Charlie Polan. Polan was able to recover the ball and run it in for a touchdown for New Trier's first score.

"That was my first special-teams touchdown," Polan said. "Special-teams touchdowns can really get a team going, and it definitely fired us up for a while."

New Trier returned the favor as Aaron Montgomery stretched a typical punt return into a 55-yard touchdown for the Blue Devils. Montgomery's score gave Warren the 17-9 lead in the third quarter.

"We have no qualms about how we played tonight; we didn't do too well," Irvin said. "We just have to be more consistent."

Lindal led all rushers with 153 yards and 1 touchdown on 25 carries.

"He's just a sophomore and he had a pretty good preseason," Mohapp said. "I knew that we had a good player, but I think I underestimated him because I think he's a much better player than I originally thought."

"We just fought hard and in the end, we were able to wear them down," Lindal said. "We knew that they were going to be tough, but luckily we had some big plays go our way."