[Preview of my article in Inside—Booster.]
By Jack Lydon
Walter Payton College Prep may be the best high school on the northside of Chicago and it might also have the best football team as well. Record wise at least, one can’t argue with that. It doesn’t get better than 5-0 on the season. The Grizzlies defeated the Lane Tech Champions 16-13 Saturday afternoon at Lane Stadium.
Pretty much everyone knows takeaways and defense produces wins. That’s what the Grizzlies did on Saturday. It might been a little coaching too.
“We knew they struggle passing the ball, so we concentrated on stopping the run,” said Payton defensive coordinator Frank Dickerson.
The Grizzlies did not completely stop the Lane’s running attack. Senior tailback/quarterback/wildcat Vernon Cole still scored two touchdowns, a four-yard keeper early in the second quarter and a 53-yard keeper up the middle late in the fourth quarter. But Payton pretty much stopped everything else.
“I saw his eyes the whole way. He was staring there. We have been watching film. The only thing he has been throwing is inside slants and inside posts. I sat back, saw the ball and it was right there,” said Payton senior safety and running back Sam Merrill.
Merrill picked out the slant pass in the middle of the field and returned to ball to Lane’s 22 yard-line. That set up a one-yard touchdown by Payton quarter back Thomas Fritchett at the 7:52 mark in the third which gave the Grizzlies a 16-7 lead.
The Grizzlies defense continued to styme the Champions throughout the remainder of the third including another interception in Lane territory this time by senior cornerback John Seward. That takeaway did not lead to points but the ensusing long Payton possession took time off the clock.
Lane rallied with Cole’s 53-yard touchdown late in the fourth to make the score 16-13. And the Champions had a chance to tie with a field goal attempt with 30 seconds to play but the kick sailed left of the uprights.
Payton’s first year coach Calvin Clark was fired up after the game.
“It means a lot. At the end of the day, we prepared for this moment. We talk about mental toughness. We’ve got mental toughness. We expect to win,” said Payton head coach Calvin Clark. This is Clark’s first year at Payton. He previously was the head coach at Sullivan High School in Rogers Park.
Lane also has a first-year head coach. Lane’s Deshon Conley was disappointed with the turnovers by his Champions.
“The scoop and score fumble was probably the deciding score of the game,” Conley said. In the first quarter, Lane quarterback Robert Suteu directed a swing pass to his right. The receiver appeared to drop the pass but it was ruled a reception and fumble by the referee standing right next to the play in the backfield.
Payton quarterback Thomas Fritchett, who also plays defensive end, scooped up the fumble, ran it in 2o yards to give the Grizzlies a 10-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“Payton came prepared. We were a little lax today. It went against us,” Conley added.
This game went a long way to deciding the leading teams on the Northside. Both Lane and Payton came into the game at 4-0. Taft is 1-4. Lincoln Park is 3-2 but with losses to Whitney Young and Lane. Amundsen is struggling at 2-3. Payton can rightfully claim northside ascendency.
It gets no easier for the Grizzlies with Kenwood, King and Westinghouse to finishe the season. But for now, this week, Payton College Prep may be, just possibly, the best high school football team, Public League anyway, on the northside.
