No big finish this time for Lisle

Friday night's visit to Plano turned into a real-life version of the movie "Groundhog Day" for the Lisle football team - with one crucial exception.

While the Lions were able to overcome a sluggish first half to defeat Seneca the previous week, they couldn't quite close the deal Friday in dropping a 14-7 Interstate Eight Conference Small Division game to the Reapers.

The defeat of Seneca came courtesy of a last-minute field goal that was the result of an exquisite two-minute run by quarterback Jon Surber. Lisle and Surber had two chances to repeat the feat on Friday, but with two minutes left, Plano's Geraldo Garcia intercepted a pass at midfield and then, following a Reapers (3-2, 2-0) punt that died at the Lions' (2-3, 1-1) 4-yard line with 56 seconds to play, Surber three times found Cameron Wright for a total of 49 yards that moved the ball into Plano territory before a sack ended the dream.

"I made sure that (Surber) didn't take the blame," Lisle coach Dan Sanko said of his postgame address to the team. "We can't put him into that position every doggone game where he has to try to win it for us."

Indeed, the first half was eerily similar to the Seneca game as Plano controlled the ball for 20 of the first half's 24 minutes, ran 38 plays to Lisle's 8 and used touchdown runs of 1 yard from Johnny Mendez and 4 from Brandon Grote to establish a 14-0 halftime edge.

"I don't know what is wrong in the first half - maybe we're intimidated," Sanko said. "I told them all week that we had as much skill as they do, but we just have to come out and hit. The kids work so hard and to come out and play like that, I don't know what to do."

Again like the previous week, the Lions turned the tables in the second half, mixing the pass and run to move confidently into Plano territory on two third-quarter possessions that were unfortunately halted by a lost fumble and failed fourth-down play.

Lisle finally broke through midway through the fourth quarter when Surber capped a 13-play, 68-yard drive with an 18-yard scoring hookup with Wright that made it 14-7 with just more than five minutes to play, but there was no last-second magic this week.

"We dominated time of possession in the first half and they had us in the second half," said Plano coach Jim Green. "We gave them too many possessions in the second half, but we didn't get conservative, they just came out and stopped us."