Sports

Lyons Township Snatches Game From York

Dukes and Lions swapped the lead all night, until LT's field goal in the final seconds.

Blue and gold chaos reigned on the York High School football field Friday night as Lyons Township (4-3, 3-2 in conference) snatched the game away from York in the final seconds.

LT rookie kicker Jake Elliot drilled a 47-yard field goal in the final seconds to give LT a 29-27 victory. It's a repeat performance for the junior; last week's 52-yarder stunned the Oak Park River Forest Huskies. This time, it was York (5-2, 3-1 conference) who felt his foot's sting. Dukes fans’ silently gaped as a surefire win slipped away at the last second, sending Lions players spilling out onto the field in a roar.

“When I kicked it, I started celebrating. I knew it was in,” Elliot said.

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The Dukes had so far this season made a habit of pounding teams into the ground—crushing their last four opponents by a combined score of 161-21, with their only loss this season being by a single point in a non-conference slugfest against Rolling Meadows. They had rolled over OPRF—the team LT narrowly edged—35-7.

But in this highly-touted conference match, York and LT both dug in and fought hard on each side of the ball, swapping leads again and again.

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Down 23-21, pinned by a Luke Nelson punt at their own 10 with just 3:19 left in the game, York rallied behind quarterback Joe Lucca to convert two crucial long fourth-down passes to David Byerley and Austin Wagner on a 14-play, 2:37 drive capped off by a sensational Byerley touchdown rip-away catch from defender Victor Conforti. But Lucca misfired on the two-point conversion attempt, leaving the Dukes lead at a tenuous 27-26 with 42 seconds left on the clock.

Too tenuous; too much time.

After York received a penalty for too many men on the field, which moved the Lions up to their own 33, the Dukes defense then allowed LT quarterback Connor Onion two identical passes to Jamari Burks up the middle for 18 and 19 yards, leaving the door open for Elliot’s boot.

“We just have to kick the ball deep, and we didn’t,” York head coach Bill Lech said. “We put the 12 men on the field, and that gives them five more yards. We didn’t defend the two big plays over the middle—and as we saw last week, they have a pretty good kicker."

The Lions struck first in the game with an Elliot field goal in the first quarter, only to see York’s Lucca respond by running the very next play from scrimmage 80 yards into the end zone.

LT answered right back with a seven-play drive, capped by a five-yard touchdown pass to Harris. Later in the second quarter, Onion connected with a short pass that Michael Thomas turned into a 52-yard gain to the 7-yard-line, and Harris would run it in the next play to give LT a 10-point lead.
Despite a Jake Rzeszutko punt-return TD being called back for holding, York would get seven of those points back right before halftime when Lucca hit Jordan Preuss down the right sideline for a 47-yard touchdown. LT had a chance for three before the half, but Onion was called for intentional grounding, putting the Lions out of range.

In the third quarter, LT’s first drive was stopped by a Rzeszutko pick, which the Dukes turned into a six-play, 50-yard scoring drive. As before, the Lions answered right back, taking nine plays to go 80 yards, capped by a Jamie Jones 3-yard TD run, but missed the extra point after a bobbled snap.

The score remained at 23-21 until late in the fourth quarter.

Lucca was 21-for-43 through the air for 228 yards and three TDs, but also three picks. Backup Dukes QB Andrew Iwaszkiewicz threw an interception in his one play.

Rival quarterback Onion was 13-for-28 for 167 yards with one TD and three interceptions. Throughout the game, LT relied more on rushing (232 yards net, versus 167 passing) with Jaime Jones picking up 138 yards on 25 attempts and Harris running for 71 on 13 attempts. Will Konstant was responsible for two of LT’s four takeaways, all interceptions.

“We got outplayed tonight by a team that, tonight, was better than us," Lech said. "I’m proud of our kids. They hung tough. They fought hard all night.”

Video highlights of this game will be available on Patch later in the weekend. The game can be seen in its entirety on Comcast CN100 at noon and 4 p.m. on Saturday.


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