Leyden ends another long streak

Leyden ended another long dry spell in dramatic fashion Friday night.

A 17-yard touchdown pass from David Rose to tight end Dan Kiebler with 1:46 to play gave the Eagles a 14-10 West Suburban Conference crossover victory over visiting Lyons in Northlake.

Leyden (6-2) is now officially in the playoffs for the second time in three years as it ended a nine-game losing streak to Lyons (5-3).

Last week, Leyden snapped an eight-game skid to Proviso East.

"It's unbelievable," said Leyden coach Tom Cerasani. "Our field was very sloppy so that helped us, but our defense was outstanding."

Defensive ends Jeff Cascella and Kiebler helped Leyden to a second-half shutout of a Lyons offense which scored 45 points last week against Proviso West and 42 points against Hinsdale Central.

"Cascella played out of his mind and Kiebler did, too," Cerasani said. "Those two played great tonight."

Leyden, which has its most wins since it went 9-2 in 1998, also got another big effort from running back Angel Maldonado. The senior had 166 yards on 19 carries and tied it at 7-7 on a 10-yard run.

After Leyden's offense came up empty for a third time inside the 10 at the Lyons 4, the defense came up with a three-and-out to set up the winning touchdown pass by Rose (13-for-23, 172 yards, no interceptions). Adam Bielech caught 5 passes for 70 yards.

"Some of the catches he made were unbelievable - and in big situations, too," Cerasani said.

Maine West 28, Niles North 13: Maine West (2-6, 1-3) snapped a five-game losing streak with the Central Suburban North win over visiting Niles North (2-6, 0-4).

Rockford Chr. Life 48, Christian Liberty 14: Christian Liberty (0-8, 0-8) got within 21-7 on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Nathan Elleson to Zach Cavanaugh but host Rockford Christian Life (4-4, 4-4) finished the first half with 28 unanswered points in the Notheastern Athletic Conference game.

Cavanaugh also had a 4-yard touchdown run for the Chargers.