Leyden finally ends Proviso East jinx

Leyden's statistical dominance was not reflected by the numbers on the Proviso East scoreboard Saturday afternoon.

Proviso East was keeping the West Suburban Gold football game much closer than it appeared on the field in Maywood. Leyden was also making its hopes of breaking an eight-game skid to its annual stumbling block a lot tougher.

So, even though the Eagles took the lead for good 21 seconds before halftime, they couldn't enjoy a 21-14 victory over the Pirates until Steve Travis intercepted William Crowder's desperation heave well short of the end zone on the game's final play.

"The big difference this year is we know how good our team is," said Leyden 6-foot-4, 210-pound senior defensive end Jeff Cascella, who had 3 sacks and a tackle for a loss. "Last year as juniors we had no idea what we could do on the varsity level.

"With our experience and talent we could go pretty deep in the playoffs."

Leyden (5-2, 4-1) became eligible for its second playoff berth in three years as it had a 361-115 advantage in total yards. Senior running back Angel Maldonado hammered his way to 233 yards on 43 bruising carries to give him three straight 200-yard games and 1,531 for the season.

Senior quarterback David Rose also completed 7-of-11 first-half passes for 81 yards and 2 touchdowns.

But a blocked punt returned for Proviso East's first touchdown, a dropped touchdown pass, a lost fumble inside the 10 and 9 penalties for 80 yards made one wonder if the hex since Leyden's last series victory in 2000 was still in play.

"We could have made this a lot easier on ourselves," said Leyden coach Tom Cerasani with a smile. "But a win is a win."

Cascella, Dan Kiebler, Mike McGovern and Terry White kept the heat on Crowder (8-for-20, 127 yards).

"They stopped some dangerous guys out there," Cerasani said of Big Ten recruits Corey Cooper (Illinois) and Antoine Lewis (Minnesota).

"You can't get your Division I wideouts the ball," Cascella said, "if you have the quarterback sacked all the time."

Crowder found Cooper (4 catches, 79 yards) for a 5-yard score and a 14-8 lead. Maldonado overcame a tweaked groin and tied the game with a 15-yard touchdown 9:57 before halftime.

That was sandwiched between Rose's touchdown passes of 13 yards to Adam Bielech and 5 yards to Kiebler. The latter on play action over Cooper in the left corner of the end zone made it 21-14.

"We knew if he went across the field they wouldn't cover him," Rose said.

"David kept us in it," Maldonado said. "He's always been dangerous."

Proviso East (1-6, 1-3) threatened in the fourth with a drive from its 20 to the Leyden 10. Travis, Victor Fuentes and Mike Ellis helped stop three end-zone passes and Matt Chmura picked off a deflected pass on fourth down.

"This definitely gives us a lot of confidence," Rose said of beating a team that came into the season with high expectations. "It shows we can play with anybody."