Defeat doesn’t faze Montini
After a tough loss Friday against another much-bigger school, Montini dropped to 1-1 on the year, yet none of the Broncos were complaining about their schedule.
Lincoln-Way East, a Class 7A school that won 10 games in 2011, jumped ahead 14-0 after its first two possessions on Friday and hung on for a 20-14 defeat of the Broncos in Lombard.
But coach Chris Andriano expects his team’s nonconference competition to pay big dividends down the road for his two-time defending state champs.
“This will help us incredibly for the conference season and it will be a big plus for us,” he said after his team’s strong effort against a big, physical Griffins squad. “It doesn’t feel like it now, but it will be a good thing.”
Lincoln-Way East (2-0) marched 80 yards on 11 plays on the night’s opening drive and led 7-0 following a 16-yard scamper by quarterback Tom Fuessel, who broke two tackles on his way to the end zone. The Broncos saw more of that as Fuessel finished the night with 108 yards rushing on 17 attempts, but the Broncos defense did manage to slow down the visitors in the second half while allowing Montini to stay in the contest.
The Griffins went 50 yards on their second scoring drive capped by a 2-yard run by Justin Corbett, but the hosts answered with a 5-yard TD pass from Alexander Wills to Mark Gorogianis to make it a 14-7 game in the first quarter.
After that score the Montini defense picked up its play and limited the powerful Griffins attack to just two field goals the rest of the way, despite a pair of turnovers that gave Lincoln-Way East great field position.
“We just picked it up in the second half,” said Montini linebacker Michael Maduko, who was in on pair of sacks on Fuessel. “Lincoln-Way East is a great team, but we’ll get there soon. This gives us a lot of confidence.”
The Griffins added a field goal late in the second quarter for a 17-7 lead at the half, and Anthony Sciarini added a 27-yarder early in the third following an interception for a 20-7 lead. But the Broncos kept on fighting, even after Wills was carted off on a stretcher midway through the fourth quarter after taking a hit from behind in the pocket.
“We got a lesson in physical football,” said Andriano, who said he thinks his quarterback was not seriously injured on the play. “We were unable find any answers offensively, but they don’t make any mistakes on defense and you don’t fool them and they’re really quick.”
Backup quarterback James Barron threw a 9-yard touchdown to Tyler Tumpane in the final minute to make things interesting, but Lincoln-Way East recovered the onside kick to seal its second straight win.
“We’re really proud of our offense,” Griffins coach Ron Zvonar said. “They came out and set the tone with two great drives to start the game. And we knew they weren’t going away. When it was 14-0 it felt like 3-0. We knew they had dangerous receivers and a talented quarterback so we’re just glad to come away with a win.”