Warren threatens early, but Lincoln-Way East pitches another shutout
The Lincoln-Way East defense had tossed three shutouts in a row, and hadn't allowed more than 14 points in any game this season.
So in Saturday's Class 8A quarterfinal in Gurnee, Warren decided to throw a curveball and come out throwing. Junior QB Jack Wolf connected with Dajhir Gordon on a crossing pattern for a 46-yard gain on the Blue Devils' first offensive play.
An 11-yard pass to Nate Foster gave the Blue Devils a first down at the 11-yard line. But the next pass floated into the arms of East's Gavin LaDere for a turnover.
It was the first of 3 interceptions on the night for the Griffins' defense, which recorded its fourth straight shutout, pulling away late for a 24-0 victory. The lead was 7-0 well into the fourth quarter.
"Our guys, we weren't quite ready for the empty passing game," LWE coach Rob Zvonar said. "We knew they had it, we just hadn't seen a lot it this year, so we had worked an awful lot more on their run game during the week. You've got to be ready for anything this time of year and I thought our kids adjusted well."
Lincoln-Way East (12-0) will host Barrington next weekend in the semifinals. The south suburban school opened in 2001 and has made the playoffs every year under Zvonar, with three state titles.
Warren (9-3) drove into LWE territory four times in the first half, but couldn't put points on the board. After halftime, The Blue Devils were stuck in bad field position and never came close to finding the end zone.
"Rob is a good defensive coach," Warren coach Bryan McNulty said. "That's why when you play them, you've got to come out and score quick. You've got to score early when you've got them kind of on their heels and that's what we didn't do. We moved the ball, but we've got to be able to score in those situations."
Lincoln-Way's offensive plan was fairly simple. They play at a fast tempo, never giving the defense a chance to rest, then ran 5-foot-5 senior running back Nuri Muhammad behind the massive offensive line of Anthony Arrivo, Mike Lombardo, Iowa commit Josh Janowski, Max Cioffi and sophomore Colton Eggert.
Muhammad finished with 123 rushing yards on 21 carries and 2 touchdowns. Ryan Usher scored the Griffins' first TD on a 30-yard pass from senior QB Braden Tescher with 6:17 left in the first half. JaShawn Echols and Brayden Mortell snagged the other two interceptions.
"We stayed calm (during the slow start)," Muhammad said. "Keep doing what's working and we figured it out as a team. Keep pushing."
Wolf started out completing 6 of 9 passes for 110 yards, then Warren finished with 10 straight incompletions. East's R.J. Mensching drilled a 37-yard field goal to finally make it a two-score game at 10-0 with 7:51 left in the fourth quarter. Muhammad tacked on 2 late touchdowns.
Warren senior Aidan Porreca gave an interesting analysis of LWE's run game.
"I don't know if I'd say they're one of the biggest offensive lines I've seen," he said. "They're one of the most disciplined, that's for sure. They run a zone offense. A zone offense in itself is a more finesse offense. You have to be technicians at what you do and these guys definitely were. What it comes down to is just getting your shoulders turned even on a play can hurt you for 80 yards."
Warren's X'Zavion Montgomery was injured on a punt return in the fourth quarter and rode a cart off the field.
These schools met for the third time in five years. Lincoln-Way East won 12-0 in the 2019 state title game, then 35-14 last year in the quarterfinals.