Lincoln-Way East eventually wears down Minooka in Class 8A second rounder

MINOOKA – Minooka spent much of Friday night’s second-round matchup with visiting Lincoln-Way East running around on defense trying to plug as many holes as it could.

And for the most part, the Indians did a very good job of it, frustrating the vaunted Griffins offense into a lot less than they had hoped for.

But for as valiant an effort as Minooka put forth, the Indians eventually ran out of fingers to patch up the leaks in the dam as Lincoln-Way East took a modest first-half lead (at least for them) and turned it into a 38-7 runaway victory.

The win lifts Lincoln-Way East (11-0) into next weekend’s quarterfinal round at home against Stevenson, a 35-7 winner over Glenbard East. It is Lincoln-Way East’s eighth consecutive season where it has at least reached the quarterfinal round. Minooka ends its season with an 8-3 record.

“Some of that is a credit to them and the defense they played in the first half, and we didn’t capitalize on some early field position. And we were a little flat here and there,” Lincoln-Way East coach Rob Zvonar said of his team’s somewhat sluggish start. “Every now and then, you have a night where you are not quite firing on all cylinders for whatever reason. And we’re not 100% pleased with our effort, but a lot of that credit goes to Minooka.”

Things started uncharacteristically for the Griffins as they went three-and-out on their first possession. Minooka began what would be characteristic of its night on offense and it also scuffled, then botched a punt attempt to give Lincoln-Way East great field position.

That’s usually a recipe for disaster, but the Minooka defense held, and the Griffins were forced to settle for a 40-yard field goal from Grant Urban.

Minooka tried to spark its offense with a little razzle-dazzle play that led to a fumble, but Lincoln-Way East again couldn’t generate much and was stuffed on a fourth-down play.

The Indians also couldn’t generate much offense, and Lincoln-Way East finally was able to put together a lengthy drive with Jonas Williams capping it with the first of five touchdown passes he would throw on the night, this one to Luke Vetter to stretch the Lincoln-Way East lead to 10-0.

Minooka’s inability to sustain a drive weighed on the Indians. After another three-and-out, Lincoln-Way East went on the march again, scoring on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Williams to Trey Zvonar early in the second quarter.

Despite several chances, Lincoln-Way East couldn’t generate any more points in the first half, although Williams just missed connecting on a 45-yard bomb just before halftime. Although Minooka trailed 17-0 at the break, it easily was one of the more laborious offensive halves Lincoln-Way East had endured all season.

“Our defensive coordinator and other defensive coaches put together a game plan that really worked. But I think our defense was out there for like 15 minutes on the field and that’s just too much,” Minooka coach Matt Harding said. “And you just start getting tired down and wore down, and we don’t necessarily have guys we can just plug and play. We’re kind of thin at some spots.”

Eventually that wear and tear started to show through. In the third quarter, Williams (22 of 41 passing for 325 yards) quickly put two more Lincoln-Way East scores on the board, connecting for a 27-yard strike with Zion Gist, then adding a 60-yard score to Keagan Ruane on a play where Ruane slipped out of a tackle and sprinted away from several Minooka defenders.

That flurry put Lincoln-Way East up 31-0. Although Minooka would break up the shutout when Zane Caves hooked up with Kooper Fisher with 10 minutes to play, the Williams/Ruane connection would put the finishing touches on the win with another TD connection, this one from 41 yards.

“As an offense we started off a little slow, a couple of self-inflicted wounds, a couple of misreads,” Williams said. “We picked up a little in the second quarter and by the third quarter we were on a roll.”

And while the offensive unit maybe wasn’t as sharp as it could have been, the defensive unit established an early tone, allowing Minooka next to nothing and carrying the offense throughout the game.

Minooka wouldn’t penetrate Lincoln-Way East territory until late in the third quarter, and the Griffins held Minooka to negative rushing yardage for the first three quarters before a few late runs well after the outcome had been decided got Minooka on the positive side of the ledger.

Northwestern-bound defensive end Caden O’Rourke caused several problems for Minooka along with his defensive linemates. O’Rourke finished with a sack and a fumble recovery as the Indians could get solid footing all game.

“We [the defense] never want to be the ones holding our team back,” O’Rourke said. “We’re always trying to work harder to be better. We had to stop the run and we had to make sure nothing tricky was going on and make sure that we got every little detail.”