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Lyons' young talent sinks Warren

According to the Lyons Township football roster, quarterback Ben Bryant and receiver Brandon Fischer are sophomores.

Their play during the season opener against visiting Warren made them look like grizzled veterans.

Bryant and Fischer hooked up for just one score, but the two combined for 365 total yards from scrimmage as Lyons snapped a two-game season-opening losing streak by handling Warren 24-0 Friday night.

"(Ben) is kind of mature beyond his age," said Lyons coach Kurt Weinberg. "He did a couple of things that we have asked our quarterbacks to do the last few years, and he did them in his first game."

Bryant and Lyons (1-0) benefitted from an early Warren miscue to take the early lead. On just his second varsity snap, Bryant connected with Fischer over the middle for a 21-yard scoring pass and the hosts were up 7-0 less than two minutes in.

A fumble by the Blue Devils on the ensuing kickoff set Bryant and the Lions offense up again. Six plays later, a 1-yard run from Reggie Terrell (23 carries, 81 yards) gave the Lions all the points they needed at 14-0 with 9:12 left in the first quarter.

"I just really had faith in all my guys," said Bryant, who threw for 187 yards and a pair of scores in his debut. "My line did awesome, everyone ran the ball great and our defense was just amazing."

The Lions' defense set their sights on Warren senior Darrius Crump. He still managed to run for 117 yards on 20 carries, but was held out of the end zone.

"I get excited for a challenge like that every time out," Crump said. "But I am more focused on doing whatever I have to do to help my team win."

Warren (0-1) benefitted from a Lyons miscue late in the first quarter when senior Max Kravitz intercepted a Bryant pass at midfield. Five plays later Crump broke through the Lyons defense and appeared to cross the goal line but as he neared the end zone he had the ball knocked out, forcing a touchback.

"We couldn't finish - we couldn't finish a drive offensively," said Warren coach Bryan McNulty.

Defensively, Warren forced two Lions turnovers. The second of the 2 interceptions came from Jalen Powe, and his 21-yard return put the Devils deep in Lyons territory. But the drive stalled inside the 8 when Lukas Schmitt was intercepted by Steven Heim of Lyons.

"I thought our defense showed a great deal of heart tonight," McNulty said. "That's a really hard offense that (Lyons) runs to defend, and I thought we did a nice job slowing down a very good offense."

Warren had its chances again early in the fourth quarter. Schmitt found junior wide out Jalin Tolbert for a 54-yard pass deep into Lyons territory. But the drive again stalled inside the 15 yard line and the Lions took over.

The hosts other scores came on a 7-yard scoring pass from Bryant to Jimmy Saracco and a 39-yard field goal from Carlos Schultz.

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