Lockport At Homewood-Flossmoor Varsity Football

By Randy Whalen

The little things. It was a big thing for the Lockport Township football team to get on the field after waiting over 16 months to once again play. Once there, it was the little things that added up to an opening season loss. That was a 41-14 setback to host Homewood-Flossmoor in a SouthWest Suburban Conference clash on Friday, March 19 in Flossmoor.

"It felt great to be back out there," Lockport senior Kyle Yehling said of the opener. "But it's the little things that we have to work on. We had a few missed assignments here and there. But we just have to come back strong and put the loss in the past." Both Yehling and junior wide receiver Ryan Little had touchdown receptions for the Porters but Lockport also threw a pair of pick-6's.

On the other side, the game was played on the last day of winter, but H-F Alexander Pratt was hot throughout. The senior finished 19-of-24 for 221 yards and three touchdowns. Their quarterback came up big," Lockport coach George Czart said of Pratt. "Anytime they needed it he came up with the big play. What I did like is we played physical and did a nice job shutting down their (Sean Allen). They did a nice job with the screen passes and we couldn't adjust quickly enough. It was great to be back on the field. These guys deserve a season."

The feeling of getting back on the field was mutual. "It was just good to be back out here," H-F coach Craig Buzea said. "I thought we played pretty well against a good team." Buzea certainly felt better at halftime as his team was up 21-0, but here was no quit in the Porters as they forced H-F into a three-and- out in its first possession of the third quarter. Starting at its own 33, Lockport moved to a first-and-goal behind the passing of Hayden Timosciek, who hit his first four passes of the drive, including a 23-yarder to junior running back Andrew LoPresti (17 carries for 45 yards, 3 receptions for 24 yards) that moved the team to a first-and-goal at the six. Timosciek, a junior, entered the game in the second quarter and finished 7-of-12 for 56 yards with a TD.

That touchdown, a 2-yarder to a wide-open Yehling who had four receptions for 19-yards, came on fourth-and-goal. Junior Sean Svoboda knocked through the extra point kick and the score was 21-7 with 5:04 left in the third quarter. The ensuing kickoff was returned by junior Jyles Walton, who fumbled it away at his own 30. There was a mad pileup for the ball and the Porters swore they had it. If so, they would be in a position to add another touchdown and take the momentum of the game in their favor. But in another of those "little things" that went wrong, after nearly 30 seconds of un-piling people, it was ruled that the Vikings recovered the fumble and maintained possession. Seven plays later they scored again when Pratt hit senior wide receiver Darnell Jones on a screen pass to the left which was broken for a 17- yard touchdown. Pratt connected on his last four passes of the drive for 42 yards and H-F led 28-7 with 1:51 to play in the third quarter.

"We had some momentum there," Yehling said of his TD catch. "But then the fumble went in H-F's favor. We have a good team. We just have to keep competing." The Porters did keep competing but just over a minute later junior Khadari Kurns returned an interception 44-yards for the Viking's second pick-6 of the game. Timosciek suffered a shoulder injury on the play and didn't return. He was taken for X-rays after the game which came back negative. He is day-to-day going forward.

A highlight for Lockport was a Little's 26-yard TD catch from Riley Pfeiffer, who re-entered the game at quarterback following the injury to Timosciek. Pfeiffer finished 11-of-15 for 95 yards and one TD. On the pass, down the right side in front of the Porter bench, Little proved to be big as he literally catapulted himself into the zone at the right pylon as he was being hit. That earned Little, who had four receptions for 66 yards and the touchdown, a ton of cheers and pulled the Porters within 34-14 with 9:04 to play in the game. "Yes, I was determined to get in," Little said of his touchdown leap. "But there's a backstory to that. When I was in youth football, about four years ago, I tried the exact same thing and was called out of bounds at the one. But this time I got some good blocks and got in. "We have the talent. We will get the wins. I'm still positive, now 5-1 is the goal."

The Vikings got a capper score on their ensuing play from scrimmage as Pratt fired a deep ball to junior Myles Walton (8 receptions for 145 yards, 2 TD's) for a 62-yard touchdown with 8:43 to play in the game. Ethan Lindquist added the extra point. The senior was good on five of his six PAT kicks but had one blocked by junior Nicholas Franciskovich.

H-F got off to a hot start when they took the opening possession 82 yards in 10 plays and scored on Pratt's 27-yard pass to Myles Walton with 7:34 left in the first quarter. The Vikings converted a fourth-and- one play from their own 37 on a 2-yard burst by Allen midway through the drive. On the ensuing possession, the Porters tried to answer. But another little thing, a third-and-two run by LoPresti was called inches short of the first without a measurement at the H-F 38. Pfeiffer quickly got the team to the line and tried to run a quarterback sneak on the next play where Lockport was whistled for illegal procedure and ended up punting. Allen (16 carries for 77 yards) eventually capped an 11-play, 95-yard drive with a 5- yard TD run for a 14-0 lead with 39.5 seconds left in the opening quarter. Jyles Walton added a 44-yard interception return for a TD midway through the second quarter as Pfeiffer tried a find a receiver underneath.

Lockport was held to 71 yards and three first downs in the first half. H-F had the two long drives to open the half but thanks to big tackles from senior defensive back Nolan Ganser, junior Dylan Schmutzler, and junior defensive lineman Andrew Blackburn-Forst, nothing else on three other drives in the second quarter. The Vikings had 161 total yards in the first half. Pfeiffer, who started five games last season when then-senior Marcos Voulgaris broke his hand, started at quarterback. He also played slotback and caught a pass for 3-yards in the third quarter. Both he and Timosciek, who came in for the final Lockport possession of the first half, threw a touchdown and an interception. "Riley deserved to start, he started last year and put in the work," Czart said of Pfeiffer. "But both he and Hayden (Timosciek) have been working hard and we planned to use them both in this game.

The little things. The Porters will have a chance to work on the little things against Carl Sandburg on Friday night at Lockport.