Lemont 42
RB 8
After dropping their home opener to St. Francis, several Riverside-Brookfield football coaches and players felt the Bulldogs shot themselves in the foot. That rationale didn’t apply on Friday night after Lemont rolled to a 42-8 win over RB.
“We were completely shut down,” RB head coach Jason Rech said. “I think we were better [compared to the St. Francis game] in terms of eliminating mental mistakes, but Lemont was just a bigger stronger football team.”
The host Indians certainly showed their prowess early, jumping out to a 14-0 lead on quarterback Mike Medwed’s two touchdown tosses of nine yards to Lee Taylor and 17-yards to Josh Ferry (4 catches, 50 yards) over the opening eight minutes of action. Medwed finished 9-of-10 for 105 yards passing.
With Lemont threatening once again, RB senior linebacker Alfredo Torres forced a fumble which was returned by Bryce Bartlett 95 yards for a score. Running back Tyler Radek converted the two-point conversion to draw the Bulldogs within 14-8.
With momentum seemingly on the Bulldogs’ side, RB kicked off to the Indians’ Clayton Fejedelem, who promptly raced 75 yards for a touchdown to extend Lemont’s lead to 21-8.
“After they returned that kickoff, we were never really in the game,” said RB defensive coordinator Marty Sloan.
The Indians tacked on two more touchdowns to seize a commanding 35-8 advantage. Conversely, RB struggled mightily on offense, producing less than 50 yards via the run/pass game.
On the bright side, Rech mentioned Nick Callahan as the Bulldogs’ definitive No.1 quarterback. Fellow signal-callers Dylan Beketic and Dave Skowronski may still see action, but the elusive Callahan is the man right now for RB.
“Nick Callahan is the guy,” Rech said. “We didn’t get much going offensively. Lemont pushed us around physically, but I think we’ll be the more physical team against our upcoming opponents.”
For the game, Mark Musial led the Bulldogs with 10 tackles and Torres registered five and two forced fumbles.
“We’re a healthy football team physically,” Rech said. “I think we are a healthy football team mentally as well. We absolutely have to start getting more physical though against teams. Most of all, we need to get a win under our belt.”
RB hopes to earn that first victory against Robeson (2-0) at Gately Stadium this Friday. The Bulldogs and Raiders will kickoff at the uncommon starting time of 3:30 p.m. RB holds a size advantage, while the Raiders will counter with talented quarterback Juwan Pipkins and good team speed.
“There may not be much of a crowd but that’s fine,” said Rech, a Mount Carmel grad who played many games at Gately. “We’ll leave school early [around 1:30] and get out there so our players can get loose and be ready to go.”