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One King-sized playoff upset at Antioch

Long, long, long before he would become a grandfather, Lonnie Williams started coaching football.

He became the first head coach at Chicago King High School in 1967.

He's still coaching at King, and is now in his 47th year at the helm.

Last year, 46 years into Williams' tenure, King won its very first playoff game in school history. On Saturday in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs, No. 9 King and Williams got their second playoff triumph ever, a stunning 24-17 win over host and No. 8 seed Antioch.

The icing on top of both wins for Williams was that his grandson, Lance Robinson, was involved. Against Antioch, Robinson's involvement was crucial to King's success.

Robinson, a senior running back, was a workhorse for the Jaguars, rushing for 131 yards and 2 touchdowns on 30 carries.

"I know my grandfather is proud," Robinson said with a smile. "It was hurting him (going all those years without a playoff win). But now that he sees that we're finally rising to the occasion, he's a proud man.

"We're finally getting things going during his last years. He was thinking about retiring and we're trying to make him stay by just winning and winning. We're (working on) his legacy."

The next step for Williams and King (8-2) is a second-round date with No. 1 Nazareth (10-0), a 56-28 winner over No. 16 Rockford Boylan.

"I just love the children, that's what keeps me going. And what's so gratifying about this is that we won it in their house. That (a Public League team winning in the suburbs) is unheard of," Williams said. "This is a victory for us and for the Public League in general. Winning here, against a program like this, with facilities like this, with players like this, is unreal."

Antioch, which was dominated in time of possession by King, closes its season with a 7-3 record. Its defense seemed to be on the field constantly as King put together multiple drives of 10 plays or more.

Meanwhile, Antioch struggled to put together anything close to that kind of rhythm on offense. In the third quarter, for instance, the Sequoits had the ball for a measly 73 seconds.

On the game, Antioch had just 10 first downs and only 160 total yards.

"It's one of those games you just wish you could have back," said star Antioch running back Griffin Hill, who managed just 17 yards on 10 carries. "We were all on the sidelines trying to cheer on our defense, but then you realize that you've been on the sidelines cheering for six or seven straight minutes and that was tough. We couldn't get our offense going.

"It doesn't even really seem over right now. There are a lot of tears being shed in there (the locker room) right now. None of us are coming to terms with the fact that it is over."

King got on the board right away when Robert Tucker scored on a 39-yard pick-six interception return on the third play of the game.

But Hill quickly took the wind out of King's sails by returning the ensuing kick-off 87 yards for a touchdown. The Sequoits scored again when quarterback Dan Meade found Weston Fox for a 3-yard touchdown pass with 3:42 left in the first quarter. They extended that lead to 17-6 early in the second quarter on a 25-yard field goal by Ben Gutke.

But King scored its second touchdown on the next series when Robinson found the end zone on a 2-yard run. That made the halftime score 17-12.

Robinson and King quarterback Sean Edison (71 yards on 14 carries) did the only scoring in the second half, on touchdown runs of 21 and 11 yards respectively.

Antioch ran just 12 plays over the entire second half, and never once crossed into King territory.

"That was one of the worst games, that actually might be the worst game, I've ever had in my career here. That was awful," Antioch coach Brian Glashagel said. "I wish I could tell you (what happened).

"It felt like we were battling everything tonight. We couldn't get off the field (on defense). We had five 15-yard penalties in the second half. They had two or three 17-play drives. And then we would go out there and (couldn't do anything on offense). I haven't seen anything like that. I'm embarrassed. I'll take the blame for it, but I'm shell-shocked a little bit right now. Not to take anything away from King either. They did exactly what they needed to do."

Images: Antioch vs. Chicago King football

  Antioch's Griffin Hill runs back a 87-yard kickoff return in the first quarter against King in the Class Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Antioch's Griffin Hill ran back a 87-yard kick off return in the first quarter against King in the Class 6A state football playoffs in Antioch on Saturday and is congratulated by his teammates. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Antioch's Jacob Lanahan is upended on this play in the first quarter by a King defender in the Class 6A football playoff action on Saturday. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Antioch's Jacob Lanahan is upended on this play in the first quarter by a King defender in the Class 6A football playoff action on Saturday in Antioch. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Antioch's Weston Fox is brought down by King's Robert Tucker in the Class 6A football playoff action on Saturday in Antioch. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Antioch's Brock Wines walks off the field with his teammates after the Sequoits' loss to King in the Class 6A state football playoffs in Antioch on Saturday. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Antioch's Nick Mentone embraces Destiny Dickson at the end of the Sequoits' loss to King in the Class 6A state football playoffs in Antioch on Saturday. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Antioch's Matt Stiglic walks off the field with tears in his eyes after his team's loss to King knocked the Sequoits out of the Class 6A state football playoffs. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
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