With 42 deserving players and families to honor Friday, the Lyons Township High School football team’s pre-game Senior Night ceremonies took a while.
“We’ve all been playing together since sixth grade, some even earlier than that,” said LTHS senior outside linebacker Will Tobin.
The focus now is to have a postseason that extends significantly longer.
The undefeated Lions enter the Class 8A state playoffs as the No. 2 seed after completing a 9-0 regular season by beating Proviso East 50-6 in Western Springs.
The Lions open against No. 31 Joliet West (5-4) at 7 p.m. Friday in Western Springs with the winner facing No. 15 Downers Grove South (7-2) or No. 18 Plainfield South (7-2) in the second round. Lincoln-Way East (9-0) is the top seed of the 32-team 8A bracket.
Last year, LTHS lost in the second round to York after equaling a program-best berth in the quarterfinals in 2022.
“[Senior Night Friday] did make it a little bit emotional, but we know the job isn’t finished,” Tobin said. “We know we have another season with the playoffs. We’ve all kind of moved on past the 9-0. Right now, we’re 0-0 and just thinking about every single week, just going 1-0.”
This is the Lions’ first undefeated, untied regular season since 1950 (6-0 record) and their first 9-0 start since 1943. State playoffs began in 1974.
In week eight, the Lions won at York to clinch their first West Suburban Conference Silver Division title since 2010 and first outright one since 1987.
“It’s been great. It’s just been fun playing with a bunch of friends since fifth grade,” said LTHS senior defensive back Joshua Gutierrez.
“Nineteen-forty-three is a long time, but maybe it’s meant to be with our team. We learned a lot from last year’s team, how to stay consistent in the weight room and just show up. [Our key is] if we keep the consistency in practice. If our practices are really good, it leads to our games. And we’ve got great coaches. If everything comes together, I think we’ll be a very hard team to beat.”
Gutierrez and Tobin joined Jack Grigus with the interceptions Friday. Lou Ratcliffe, Sean Malinowski and Miko Zecevic recovered fumbles. Tackle leaders included Ratcliffe (8 total, 3 for loss), JD Mahoney (5, 1 for loss), Malinowski (5), Tobin (4, 2 for loss), Isaac Hawbaker (4) and Danny Focht (3).
Alarie Burkley rushed for 97 yards on eight carries with TD runs of 1 and 22 yards. Quarterback Dom Pisciotti (5-for-8, 129 yards) had TD passes of 17 yards to Travis Stamm and 39 yards to Mack Long.
After a 34-yard field goal by AJ Vavrik, TD runs by Frank Suero of 21 yards and Cam Clarke of 7 yards opened a 44-0 halftime lead. Luke Harrigan scored on a 1-yard TD run in the third quarter for a 50-0 advantage.
Nazareth football
Defending 5A state champion Nazareth Academy (7-2) is a No. 3 seed in its half of the 5A bracket and plays host to No. 14 Payton (5-4) at 1 p.m. Saturday in LaGrange Park.
Senior linebacker and Stanford commit Gabe Kaminski of Riverside has a team-best 77 tackles with 13 tackles for loss, five sacks, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.
Junior Yandiel Colon of Brookfield has returned as the placekick holder, this season for junior Frankie Nichols. Sophomore defensive end Chris Kasky of Brookfield has 36 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and four sacks.
Senior quarterback Logan Malachuk has passed for 1,976 yards and 29 touchdowns with just four interceptions. Touchdown leaders are receivers Trenton Walker (789 receiving yards, 11 TDs), Jake Cestone (582 yards, 9 TDs) and James Penley (437 yards, 8 TDs).
Saturday’s winner most likely meets No. 6 Woodstock North (7-2) in the second round.
