Boylan remembers, gets past Lake Zurich
Playing off the title of the popular football movie "Remember the Titans," the Rockford Boylan football team made "Revenge of the Titans" its theme for Saturday's Class 7A semifinal game against visiting Lake Zurich.
The rallying cry was hard to miss - and therefore always top of mind for the Titans, who had been eliminated from the playoffs by Lake Zurich twice in the last six years.
"Revenge of the Titans" was spelled out in big white letters with Styrofoam cups that were stuck into the holes of the chain link fence behind one end zone.
"Titans are always Titans forever and we wanted to win for those guys who lost to (Lake Zurich) in the past," Rockford Boylan senior running back Tyreis Thomas said of the 2006 and 2007 losses to the Bears in the quarterfinals. "I was in seventh and eighth grade then, and my brother was a sophomore here. Our coaches showed us the films from those games this week to remind us about what happened."
The game film this time around will look a lot different - and so will the postgame body language.
The inspired Titans, who were carried by Thomas's 155 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns, edged Lake Zurich 16-10 to earn another spot in a state championship game. Last year, Rockford Boylan won the Class 6A state title. It was the first state championship in program history.
This time, the Titans (13-0) will face Wheaton Warrenville South, a 21-14 semifinal winner over St. Rita, in the Class 7A state title game. Kickoff is slated for 4 p.m. Saturday at the University of Illinois's Memorial Stadium in Champaign.
Meanwhile, Lake Zurich, which lost to Wheaton Warrenville South in last year's Class 7A state title game, wraps up its season with a 10-3 record.
"This is a big win for the program, especially coming up to 7A this year," said Rockford Boylan senior Dean Lowry, a 6-foot-6 all-state tight end who is headed to Northwestern. "Lake Zurich is one of the best teams in the state, so we're excited.
"We all remember those games that (Boylan) lost to Lake Zurich and that was in the back of our minds today. I went to both of those games. It's something we've all thought about for five years, so to beat them is awesome."
After a scoreless first quarter, the Titans cracked the scoreboard first.
Thomas ran in from 2 yards out just four seconds into the second quarter. The score was part of an eight-play drive that was set up by Adonis Brown's interception of a Lake Zurich pass with 1:34 left in the first quarter.
"The difference was that they capitalized on some plays like that and we didn't on the ones we had in front of us," said Lake Zurich coach Bryan Stortz, referring in part to a play in the third quarter in which Boylan fumbled a punt at its own 5-yard line but the Bears were unable to recover the ball. "They drop that punt and somehow come back up with it. It was just some little things like that.
"We just weren't able to make a couple of plays when we need to."
The Bears did, however, answer back immediately after Rockford Boylan's first touchdown. Quarterback Steven Kuhn, who has been starting in place of injured starter Zach Till (fractured foot) for the last three weeks, directed a steady, 15-play drive that ate up the next six minutes. Kuhn capped it off with a 1-yard quarterback sneak with 5:57 left before the break.
But Boylan answered with a long drive of its own.
The Titans chewed up the rest of the second quarter, driving 78 yards on 16 plays in 5:56. They ultimately scored with one second left in the half, but had to settle for a 19-yard field goal by Sean Slattery in spite of having a first-and-goal opportunity from the 6-yard line a few plays earlier.
The red-zone stand was a small victory for the Bears' defense. But Lake Zurich couldn't enjoy it for long.
On the second play of the third quarter, Thomas struck again for Rockford Boylan. He took a hand-off, bounced off several defenders, broke loose and then rumbled 66 yards for a touchdown.
That put the Titans up 16-7.
"I'm sure that took a little bit of the wind out of their sails," Rockford Boylan coach Dan Appino said of Lake Zurich. "But they're relentless. They don't quit. They came back and gave us a great game."
Midway through the quarter, the Bears cut into their deficit when Mike Leiva booted in a 40-yard field goal. That made the score 16-10.
But after forcing the Titans into a punt on the next series, Lake Zurich couldn't capitalize. The Bears fumbled away the ball four plays later.
Lake Zurich was then forced into punts on its next two possessions (over the first half of the fourth quarter).
Till, who recently was cleared after spending most of the last three weeks rehabbing, came in for a change of pace for the Bears' last two series of the game.
But he threw 3 incompletions and an interception against a Titans' defense that was smelling blood.
"They were very good defensively. They schemed us very well," said Kuhn, who rushed for 48 yards on 13 carries, second to Mike Shield, who finished with 68 rushing yards on 20 carries. "We fought as hard as we could. We just came up short today."
It's a position in which Lake Zurich is not very familiar.
The Bears have been the most successful playoff team in Lake County over the last six years. They've played in three state championship games since then and won the Class 7A state title in 2007.
Lake Zurich has advanced to at least the semifinals in five of the last six seasons.
"It has been such an honor being a part of this program," said senior linebacker Jack Lynn, who will be playing at Minnesota next year. "This program means so much to me. It's been home for me. I'm going to miss these guys, but I guarantee they'll be back here next year."