Lisle wallops Streator
In terms of possessing the ability to build suspense, Lisle could use a few lessons from Stephen King or Alfred Hitchcock.
Knowing they needed a victory over visiting Streator on Friday night in order to secure football playoff eligibility, the Lions left no need for any nail-biting, scoring six unanswered touchdowns in the game's first 13 minutes on the way to a 55-14 Illinois Central Eight victory in Lisle.
The Lions appear to have enough playoff points to earn an at-large playoff berth.
"We really focused in practice this week," said quarterback Aidan Lombardo. "We knew that if we were done, we were done for the season."
Lombardo got the Lions (5-4, 3-4) on the scoreboard just 56 seconds into the game with a 24-yard TD run. That came two plays after he opened the game with a 21-yard scamper, which was followed by Connor Nigro's 30-yard run.
That established a trend for the night. Lisle had 195 yards rushing on just 13 carries in the first half despite operating without injured leading rushers Mike Walker and Brett Weber.
"We were missing our two main runners, but we've got guys who are all good athletes," Lombardo said. "It's definitely a blessing that they all can catch the ball and run the ball."
The best athlete among all of the Lions might be Demetrius King, who left his mark on the game by scoring Lisle's next three touchdowns - in three different ways. The first came via a 60-yard punt return. Then he hauled in Lombardo's only pass of the night for a 20-yard score before completing the TD trifecta by intercepting Streator's Jimmy Tredway and returning it 63 yards to paydirt - all in the span of four minutes.
"On the punt I saw nobody went to get the ball and just picked it up and ran," King said. "The interception, I saw the quarterback get the ball out, but he overthrew the receiver, so I went up and got it and ran."
Lisle's 41-point outburst was capped by Nigro's 23-yard run and a 28-yard sprint from Dylan Laue. After Tredway found Trever Murphy with a 9-yard TD pass to get the Bulldogs (2-7, 1-6) on the board, Jovan Matvich returned a fumble 40 yards for a score and Laue added a 13-yard TD run as the Lions led 55-7 at halftime. Murphy hauled in a 38-yard Tredway pass for the second half's only score, with the Lions most concerned with keeping everyone healthy as the playoffs beckon against an opponent to be determined.
"We're gonna go into the playoff game thinking that we're not playing them, they're playing us," Lombardo said. "With that mindset I think we'll be OK."