Westerkamp, Montini beat Sterling through the air
STERLING — In the northwestern nook of Illinois where wing-T football has long been gospel, the forward pass is a four-letter word not uttered often.
Jordan Westerkamp and Montini showed them what they’re missing.
Westerkamp caught 8 passes for 129 yards and 2 touchdowns, quarterback John Rhode threw for 277 yards and 2 scores and No. 6 seed Montini pulled away from No. 3 Sterling in the second half for a 35-10 win in Saturday’s second round of the Class 5A playoffs at Roscoe Eades Field.
At least two of Nebraska-bound Westerkamp’s grabs were of the one-hand “wow” variety, feats his coach has grown quite fond witnessing.
“He’s amazing, isn’t he,” Montini coach Chris Andriano said. “Body control, great routes. Even in double coverage — when the ball is in the air, he’s coming down with it. He’s the best.”
Montini (9-2), which won its 12th straight playoff game and hasn’t lost to a public school in the postseason since 2003, advances to host Marian Central next Saturday. Suburban Christian Blue rival Marian was the last team to beat Montini, 21-20 in Week 4 — but that was in Woodstock and when Rhode was still nursing a broken finger.
Needless to say, the Broncos are licking their chops.
“Oh yeah, we want to play them,” Westerkamp said. “We’re pretty fired up about that.”
Sterling (9-2) couldn’t have followed its script any better in the first half, controlling the ball for 17 of 24 minutes on the slow, muddy grass track. Still Montini held firm to stall a 13-play drive, and an 18-play Golden Warriors possession spanning more than eight minutes could only net a 32-yard Salomon Ocampo field goal. That cut Montini’s lead to 7-3 lead with 1:27 left in the half.
“There’s a bend but don’t break mentality about what we do,” Andriano said. “Our guys, they just never show weakness. I love that attitude.”
The game quickly turned the Broncos’ way after that.
A pop-fly kickoff away from Westerkamp set Montini up with a short field, and the Broncos made it hurt in six plays. Anthony Taylor hauled in a pretty finger-tip grab for a 36-yard gainer, setting up Joey Borsellino’s 4-yard touchdown and a 14-3 lead in a drive that took all of 39 seconds.
“We practice that all week, that two-minute drill. It worked perfectly,” Westerkamp said. “Great momentum going into halftime.”
Montini opened its lead out of the break. Westerkamp, who repeatedly beat 1-on-1 coverage on perimeter fade routes, caught a 26-yard deep post for a touchdown on a Rhode rollout. Sterling answered with a 19-yard Dylan Stingley touchdown pass, but Westerkamp made a leaping catch of a 6-yard pass from Borsellino on the third play of the fourth quarter.
“Usually teams are double- and triple-covering (Westerkamp),” Rhode said, “and they had him 1-on-1. He has an advantage against pretty much every defensive back.”
Taylor put the cherry on Montini’s win, taking a receiver screen 55 yards for a score.
Borsellino had 88 yards of total offense and ran for 2 touchdowns for Montini, with Sterling’s Alejandro Rivero going for 66 yards on 24 carries.