York earns second consecutive shutout
Each of York's talented quarterbacks accounted for a pair of touchdowns Friday night, yet it was the Dukes' defense that really stood out.
York knocked off Lyons Township 28-0 in Friday night's West Suburban Silver contest and recorded a second straight shutout in the process. The Dukes (2-1, 1-0), who have now already surpassed last year's win total, held the host Lions without a first down until late in the third quarter.
Senior defensive lineman Bo Thomas had a key interception that set up the first of York's four touchdowns. Six-foot-5, 230-pound senior linebacker Zane Heemsoth, meanwhile, made plays all over the field as the team's defense wreaked havoc on a Lyons squad that was missing quarterback J.J. Dutton, who suffered a hand injury in practice this week but did still manage to play on defense and come away with an interception.
"I feel like the 'D' line has been doing really well. They're owning the line of scrimmage both on the run and they're getting pressure on the quarterback in the passing game," Heemsoth said.
"That helps everyone out. The corners and safeties have to be in coverage less and it's the same for us linebackers, the 'D' line is helping us out a lot. It's really exciting."
York's quarterback duo of starter Joe Javorek and reserve Dan Dunn is also turning in some exciting plays. Javorek's 4-yard touchdown pass to Owen Pechous opened the scoring, and he later added a 2-yard run into the end zone while finishing the night with 212 yards passing. All Dunn did was come off the bench and throw a pair of TD passes to Josiah Scott, who had 5 catches for 134 yards, including scoring passes of 5 and 39 yards from Dunn.
"They both are tremendous kids and work extremely hard," York coach Mike Fitzgerald said of his signalcallers. "I think they have different skill sets and the flow of the game kind of dictates (how we use them)."
But there's no quarterback controversary.
"We always say we want to be competitive about it but not combative," Fitzgerald said.
After going 1-8 last year, York returned a lot of players, including defensive stalwarts like Heemsoth, Thomas and lineman Ben Mellon. The veteran defense has helped the program bounce back in a big way.
"Our guys, we talk about that all the time - effort and attitude," Fitzgerald said. "Your effort's your commitment to the team and our guys are really taking to that and good things happen when you're flying around. They're just playing with a chip on their shoulder and the kids are aggressive. I'm really proud of them."
The only negative was 10 penalties for 96 yards, but even that was not all bad in the eyes of the Dukes' coach.
"Sometimes our aggressiveness got us in a little trouble with penalties, but I'd rather them going hard and making those mistakes then being tentative," he said. "I don't want our guys ever to be afraid to make mistakes."