Lisle earns good review in loss
Lisle came up on the wrong end of a 24-0 Interstate Eight Conference Small Division loss to Wilmington on Friday but finished on the right side of Lions football coach Dan Sanko.
"I asked them to play hard and play for 48 minutes and I think they did that," Sanko said. "We made some mistakes - costly mistakes - but these guys played their hearts out. It was a physical game, but you know what, we were pretty physical with them too."
Two of Wilmington's scores came after Lisle fumbles. As Sanko said, that can't happen against a team like Wilmington (7-0, 4-0).
Yet in front of a nice homecoming crowd at Benedictine University, Lisle (3-4, 2-2) displayed backbone by shutting out the Wildcats in the second half.
"I was just real happy with our team. They didn't back down," said Lions quarterback Jon Surber. "Butted heads the whole game, played hard."
Wilmington's double-wing offense moved like clockwork on its first possession of the night, also its best.
Using six athletes on a 15-play, 77-yard drive of all running plays, the Wildcats took a 7-0 lead at 4:29 of the first quarter on Jeremy Bailey's 3-yard run and Trey Berndt's kick.
Lisle back Jake Kretman answered with a 52-yard run, and Surber threw to tight end Lee Gorski for a first down inside Wilmington's 11-yard line, but two plays later the Lions lost a fumble.
A 71-yard screen pass to Zach McWilliams from Colin Webb led to Bailey's second touchdown run, a 4-yarder for a 14-0 Wildcats lead at 10:10 of the second quarter.
Another lost fumble had Wilmington at the Lisle 37, but the defense held to force a Berndt 25-yard field goal.
The killer for Lisle came in the last minute of the first half. Webb hit Cort Scheel in stride dragging the middle and the wingback took the reception 60 yards into the end zone for the 24-0 lead.
"That was big," said Wilmington coach Jeff Reents. "I'm glad to be 7-0. That sets up a big game for us next week, Plano at our place for the (IEC Small) championship.
It was a testament to Lisle linebacker Nick Nigro and the defensive line of Tyler Triplett, Chris Jensen, Cole Beidelman and Tony Kisla that after Wilmington's first series of running plays went nowhere, Reents went to the air in the third quarter.
From then on the game became a defensive struggle that included an interception by Lisle's Ryan Liss.
"The second half we did great," said Kretman, who led all running backs with 112 yards on 10 carries. "We didn't score but our defense stopped them."