Sean Doherty delivers in Lincoln-Way East win over Lockport
By Dick Goss dgoss@stmedianetwork.com September 8, 2012 1:08AM
Lincoln-Way East's Nick Colangelo (15), at Friday night's game between Lockport and Lincoln-Way East. | Paul Bergstrom ~ For Sun-Times Media
Player
of the Game
Lincoln-Way East cornerback Sean Doherty intercepted a pass to set up a touchdown and scored a safety in the second quarter.
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Updated: October 10, 2012 6:28AM
For a team that had gotten spanked in two nonconference games, Lockport was playing awfully well against highly regarded visitor Lincoln-Way East in Friday night’s SouthWest Suburban Blue opener.
But Griffins cornerback Sean Doherty changed everything with two big plays, propelling No. 2 East to a 35-0 victory.
Doherty stepped in front of a Lockport receiver to intercept a pass at the Porters’ 33-yard line. That led to Nick Colangelo’s short scoring run and a 13-0 lead with 2 minutes, 50 seconds left in the second quarter.
On Lockport’s next possession, Jarret Lecas crashed into Lockport punter Aaron Ambrose before he could get into his kicking motion. Ambrose attempted to recover from the jolt and run from the end zone, but Doherty tracked him down for a safety to make it 15-0.
“I just had to run after Lecas hit him a little bit,” Doherty said.
But that wasn’t all. Moe Almasri returned the ensuing free kick 59 yards to the Lockport 22, and on the next play, quarterback Tom Fuessel went the distance for a 21-0 halftime lead for East (3-0, 1-0).
“We hung right with them the first half,” Lockport coach Don McKillip said. “We worked really hard this week on defense — we were embarrassed the first two weeks — and we were better than what the score showed. It could have been 6-0, not 21-0. But their special teams hurt us.”
“We were playing good, but not our best, in the first half,” East linebacker Kyle Langenderfer said. “We had some stupid penalties. We still have things we need to tighten up.”
Griffins coach Rob Zvonar said the way the first half progressed “was a tribute to Lockport. They came out and played tremendous, and we were a little flat and were doing things we did not want to do into the second quarter, before we got the big plays from the defense and special teams.”
Lockport (0-3, 0-1) managed 39 yards of offense in the first half, 120 in the game.
“We’d move the ball with a couple decent plays, and then we’d go backwards again,” McKillip said.
Among the highlights for the East defense were a fumble recovery by Almasri, sacks by Langenderfer and Sean Stewart, two tackles for loss each by Stewart and Adam O’Grady, and one each by Langenderfer, Curt Olbrich and Cody Hoffman.
In the face of relentless pressure, Lockport quarterback Ryan Dalton finished 3-of-13 passing for 19 yards and Doherty’s interception.
On the East offensive ledger, Fuessel rushed for 152 yards in 12 carries, including an 87-yard TD run in the second half. Colangelo added 143 in nine carries, including an 80-yard TD in the second half and a 49-yard jaunt to set up the Griffins’ first score in the first quarter.
“Our defense set the tone the last three weeks,” said Fuessel, who also completed 4-of-8 passes for 43 yards. “But if we stay disciplined on offense, we’ll be fine.”
“Tom threw the ball well tonight,” Zvonar said. “He had some drops that hurt his stats.”
