Payton Edges Amundsen 13-12

By Jack Lydon

The Payton Grizzlies edged the Amundsen Vikings 13-12 at Winnemac Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Most of the first half was not pretty. Penalties, fumbles, miscues of all sorts by both teams. Late in the first half, Payton found a rhythm late and put together the first sustained drive of the game. Grizzlies senior quarterback Jackson Peters lead his squad down to the nine-yard line. Senior tight end Kobe Ferguson slipped under the coverage at about the five. Peters dropped a pass into him. Ferguson split defenders and carried his tacklers to goal line stretching the ball over the goal for the first score of the game.

“I did do that. Yes sir. I am the stronger player. I think I’m the best player on the field at all times and I think I proved that today,” Ferguson said. His hyperbolic statement wasn’t too far off. His play was the best play of the game. 

“It’s not supposed to go to Kobe. It was supposed to go to the other big tight end. Kobe just was special and made an incredible play. He’s a beast,” said Payton head Calvin Clark.

There was no quit in the Vikings. Immediately after Ferguson’s touchdown, Amundsen put together a long drive of their own including a gutsy deep sideline pass on fourth down for a 33-yard gain down to Payton’s 3-yard line. Vikings’ senior running back Milton Follmar scored right up the middle. The PAT failed making the half time score was 7-6 Payton.

“We felt confident at half time. We saw things that we liked, things that we could take advantage of,” said Amundsen head coach Nick Olson.

Late in the third quarter, Payton lined up for a 30-yard field goal. The Vikings blocked it. Momentum shifted. On the strength of the running of Amundsen senior quarterback Jake Siefert, who had the bulk of the carries on the drive, the Vikings moved down the field. Siefert scored the go-ahead 12-yard touchdown run with seven minutes to play. Vikings took a 12-7 lead. 

 

“We’ve got this thing called ‘next play.’ We don’t get down. We don’t get on each other. At the end of the day, it is about the next play. It’s about what we can do next,” Clark said.

The Grizzlies were onto the next play. Quarterback Jackson Peters lead his Grizzles methodically down the field bringing up a second and goal from the 6-yard line.

 “We had a pass play queued up. But I had a free end and I knew it was easiest if I just run it in and we win the game,” said Peters.

That he did, putting the Grizzlies ahead 13-12 with 3:31 left. That’s where it would end.

“We are a very young team. I told my coaches [the team is] young. They have never experienced this before. We have a lot of kids that never played football until they got to us. [Payton] just wanted it more and we were not disciplined,” said Amundsen’s Nick Olson.

Payton improves to 3-0 and will face Morgan Park next week. Amundsen falls to 1-2 and will face Bull College Prep.

DePaul Prep Comes Back to Defeat Payton 42-21

{Preview of my story in Inside Publications)

Sloppy but effective. The DePaul Prep Rams came back from an early 14-0 deficit against the Payton College Prep to defeat the Grizzlies 42-21 at DePaul Friday evening’s season opener.

The Rams did not play well in the first half. The Grizzles did.

DePaul sophomore quarterback Fernando “JuJu” Rodriguez was picked off on a late throw down the middle early in the first quarter. After the interception and a couple Rams penalties, the Grizzlies scored on a nineteen-yard screen pass.

The ensuing kickoff was thing of beauty. The Payton kicker popped the ball up to the Rams twenty-yard line. The ball hit the field turf and bounced back like a punt. Rams returner Lavelle Hardy had no change. Payton sophomore Steveon Bynum recovered the ball.

On the next play, Payton quarterback Kyle Osterman laid out a beautiful fade pass to sophomore wide receiver Finn Ryan at the goal line for a twenty-two-yard touchdown. Just that fast, Payton was up 14-0 and was rolling.

DePaul moved the ball but just could not get in sync. With 1:35 left in the first half, the Rams rallied. JuJu Rodriguez hit standout junior wide receiver Lavelle Hardy on a skinny post. Hardy did the rest, running it in from 55 yard out.

With an onside kick of their own, DePaul’s junior linebacker Danny Kelly recovered the ball. JuJu hit junior wide receiver Michael Bloom in the endzone to tie the game. The Rams were back in it despite looking terrible in the first half.

Not halftime yet.

On the last play of the half, Osterman launched the ball up the visitor sideline to, as Payton head coach Craig Knocke described as, “the only D-1 player on our team,” Columbia commit Charlie Newton. Newton split two defenders, comes down with the ball, broke a couple tackles and score as time runs out. 21-14 Payton at the half.

Reset.

“At halftime we talked. We talked. We calmed down. A lot of guys had some first game jitters. A lot of guy were starting for the first time. We had some sophomores out there. You could see it in the kids eyes. There were some heart beats going. There was some nervousness. We calmed down and you saw the real football team in the second half,” said DePaul Prep head coach Mike Passarella.

The Rams may have calmed down but in the third quarter, the Grizzlies cramped up. “A lot of cramps, not very many injuries, a lot of cramps,” said third year Payton head coach Craig Knoche.

“We can’t mimic a game in practice. We don’t have enough people to hit. This is all four classes. We have freshmen through seniors here.”

Between the cramps and the numerous penalties, the third quarter took time. Time the Rams coaching staff used to wear down the Grizzlies.

“If you look back at the first half we beat ourselves,” explained Ram coach Passarella.

In the second half, “we knew they had a bunch of guys playing both ways. We knew we had them gassed. They started pinching the middle. That’s when we started taking advantage” by running wide.

With the ugly third quarter almost done, the Rams moved the ball behind work horse running back junior Titus Bautista down to the five-yard line. JuJu tossed a perfect quick slant to senior wide receiver (and basketball forward) Henry West to bring the Rams to within one. The PAT tied it up at 21.

Third quarter was not over yet.

The Rams pulled off an onside kick of their own. A similar putsch kick halfway up the home sideline. Rams’ junior linebacker Griffin Horne came up with the ball. The Rams were in business. From the fifteen, Henry West ran a quick out. JuJu’s throw was perfect. The first year football player West had his second touchdown in 15 ticks off the clock to put the Rams in the lead for good.

The Payton Grizzlies look to be the favorite in the reshuffled CPS Red-West conference. Coming off last year’s 6-4 record and an IHSA playoff appearance, Coach Knoche’s Grizzlies looked every bit the part to open the season even with mostly all new starters. Perhaps a little undermanned but their starting group can play.

The Rams face Amundsen next Friday afternoon at Winnemac Park. Payton takes on Von Stueben at Lane on Friday afternoon as well

Crystal Lake Central 55, Amundsen 28

Today’s IHSA 6A playoff game Winnemac Stadium, a/k/a Jorndt Field saw the Crystal Lake Tigers defeat the Amundsen Vikings, 55-28.

This game was the Ted Lasso of high school football. When I got there, my long-time friend Erick Norton told me his son John is on the team. How cool is that?

“Sure, I will get all kinds of photos of him,” I told Erick

Amundsen High School at Foster and Damen, a CPS high school in the neighborhood, was coming it off its best season in as long as I have been paying attention. It’s great to see a neighborhood school succeed. I saw that the Vikings were a 5 seed playing a 12 seed. Not good karma as those who follow March Madness know. Now I had no illusions that Amundsen would be contending for a state title but who knows? A playoff win?

I knew exactly nothing about Crystal Lake Central. I remember being there once for a basketball game my son Dan was playing in the summer. It was far away, big and otherwise unremarkable. Nevertheless, I expected them to be good and probably trounce Amundsen.

And that they did. Crystal Lake Central’s sophomore quarterback Jason Penza returned Amundsen’s opening kickoff 80 yards on the first play of the game. The score was 55-28 in the end.

But that’s not the story of the game. There was just too much fight in the Amundsen kids to be overly concerned with the score. They were having too much fun playing the game. Sure, they were overmatched. For the most part, the Tigers were bigger, faster and stronger. And very well coached. The Crystal Lake play calling and execution were exquisite. These coaches did a great job. I do not know what I would have done differently even if I know enough to do something differently.

Even overmatched and outscored, the Amundsen Vikings played to the whistle. The kept cheering for each other while down forty points. They were having fun for the love of the game and for each other. They were having fun just for the chance to play.

Truth be told, the Amundsen coaches did a lot of yelling. But it kind of worked. The young men did not get down. They kept playing. They cheered each other on.

And they did what they could—which was score. Senior wideout Adam Muench is a player. He caught three touchdowns of 65, 60 and 33 yards. Senior quarterback Elijah Hernandez throws a lovely deep ball and hit Muench in stride on long touchdown passes. They made it look so easy at times, one wondered if they could get back in the game.

After the game, senior wide reciever Lamar Lane led his mates in a celebration reminiscent of the Samoan haka. I captured it on Twitter for those how might be interested.

We should all be proud of these young men. All of them, the Vikings and Tigers. They played well and for the love of the game. A good example for the adults in the room, at least this one.

As for the photos, it was an adventure. It was overcast and then bright midday sun, harsh with shadows and glare. You may notice a photo of an official’s back as he ran in front of my camera grabbing the autofocus and taking it with him and away from the touchdown pass that I had clearly in my focus points. It happens. I was not in good position. I just have never taken such perfect photograph of an official’s back to prove the autofocus capabilities of the new Canon.

I love shooting games at Winnemac/Jorndt. The red brick bleachers make for wonderful backgrounds.

I hope you like the photos.