Willowbrook's journey ends in semifinals
Hand bloodied, body battered.
Sam Tumilty zigged and he zagged, but everywhere he found a Mt. Carmel defender.
In front of an overflow crowd in Villa Park, Willowbrook couldn't get its vaunted offense going and fell 27-6 to the Caravan in Saturday's Class 7A semifinal football game.
While the No. 5 Warriors (12-1) saw their best season since 1975 come to an end, the top-seeded Caravan (13-0) advanced to next week's title game to face No. 2 Nazareth (13-0), a winner over Rolling Meadows.
"Our guys battled out there and we didn't accomplish our goals," Tumilty said. "But it's the journey, not the destination. It was a great game. Our team has been grinding since summer and we all believed in each other."
Odeluga busts through for an 18 yard TD. leads 27-6 late 3q.
— Kevin Schmit (@kevin_schmit)
Willowbrook'> senior quarterback managed 75 rushing yards and 151 passing yards, scoring his team's lone touchdown to narrow the margin to 13-6 early in the second quarter. But Tumilty was also sacked five times and the Caravan defense intercepted him twice in the second half.
With Mt. Carmel leading 13-6 at halftime, a pair of third-quarter touchdowns put the game out of reach. Caravan running back Kenenna Odeluga, who carried the ball 27 times for 147 yards, scored his second touchdown from 18 yards out with under a minute to play in the third quarter to make it a three-score game.
"In the third quarter I was getting 5, 6, 7 yards," Odeluga said. "We were really wearing them down, but kudos to them. They're a tough team."
A monstrous swing occurred on the first two series of the game. The Warriors were stuffed on fourth-and-goal at the 1, and on the very next play Caravan quarterback Justin Lynch found Jaali Parker, who broke an initial tackle, for a 99-yard touchdown.
It didn't get any better for the Warriors after Odeluga burst in from 3 yards out to boost the Caravan lead to 13-0 on the first play of the second quarter.
The Warriors kept fighting, scoring on their next possession. The drive was keyed by a 51-yard pass from Tumilty to Everett Stubblefield and capped by Tumilty's 7-yard dash to the end zone.
. answer quick. Tumilty from 7 yards out. XP no good. Wbk within 13-6 of with 10:05 left in 2q.
— Kevin Schmit (@kevin_schmit)
Willowbroo> barely had the ball in the third quarter, though, and the deficit grew. Two more red-zone trips yielded no points for the Warriors.
"We all played hard and to the best of our ability," said Stubblefield, who had 5 catches for 68 yards. "We just couldn't pull it through. It's been a good journey. We got over that hump and made it to the semifinals."
Lynch, who ran for 55 yards and threw for 208, scored on a 1-yard third-quarter run to push the Caravan lead to 20-6.
"We didn't meet expectation, and that's playing in a state championship game," said Warriors coach Nick Hildreth, whose team advanced to the semifinals for the first time in 44 years. "That's different from what it was when (the seniors) were freshmen. They've created a situation where this is what the expectation is, and it wasn't like that when they came in here. They've managed to change that."
Twitter: @kevin_schmit