L-P football struggles offensively in loss to Metamora

PERU - In the season opener, the La Salle-Peru football team debuted a new offense with great success, racking up nearly 500 yards.

The Cavaliers couldn’t duplicate the performance against Class 5A No. 10-ranked Metamora in their home opener at Howard Fellows Stadium.

The Redbirds stacked the box, limiting L-P’s running opportunities, and the Cavs couldn’t make enough plays in the passing game, including multiple drops and overthrows when a receiver had gotten behind the defense.

“Kids made plays last week. We didn’t make plays this week. They stacked the box. It was hard for us to run the ball. We were relying on our skill guys to make plays and unfortunately it didn’t happen this week.”

—  Jose Medina, L-P football coach

Metamora, meanwhile, managed to put together sustained drives early then break off some big plays later for a 37-6 nonconference victory.

“We talked about it at halftime, we left about 21 points out there,” L-P coach Jose Medina said. “Kids made plays last week. We didn’t make plays this week. They stacked the box. It was hard for us to run the ball. We were relying on our skill guys to make plays and unfortunately it didn’t happen this week.”

The Cavs (1-1) managed to rush for just 33 yards, while quarterback Brendan Boudreau completed 6 of 13 passes for 56 yards.

“There were just too many guys in the box,” Medina said. “Looking at film, we were missing guys. The backside linebacker ran free a couple times. We just couldn’t get a body on a body and when you can’t do that, then you rely on the pass. It’s tough.”

Metamora took control early.

The Redbirds (2-0) got possession at their own 20-yard line to start the game and marched 80 yards on 10 plays.

Quarterback Nick Rhoades completed all four of his pass attempts on the drive for 44 yards, Jaiduan Cranford had five carries for 35 yards and Rhoades punched it in on first-and-goal from the 1.

On L-P’s first possession, Boudreau handed to Brady Romagnoli on fourth-and-1 from the Metamora 46, but Redbird defensive back Stephen Petri stuffed him for a 2-yard loss to end the drive.

Metamora then drove 52 yards in eight plays with Rhoades running for a 23-yard TD to give the Redbirds a 16-0 lead with 1:54 left in the first quarter.

The Cavs had then put together their only scoring drive.

Boudreau got things started when he escaped pressure on third down and ran for 15 yards. He ran four more times on the drive and connected on two short passes before the Cavs faced fourth-and-9 from the Metamoar 19.

Instead of sending in kicker Seth Adams, who made field goals of 36 and 39 yards last week, Medina elected to go for it and Boudreau delivered a 19-yard TD pass to Mikey Hartmen with 8:58 left in the second quarter.

“Brendan threw a good ball and Mikey made a good catch,” Medina said.

From there, the Cavs couldn’t get much else going while the Redbirds broke off several big plays.

Cranford responded almost immediately as he raced for a 51-yard TD. On Metamora’s next drive, Kendrick Schaffrin caught a 39-yard pass down to the 1 then Petri punched it in on the next play to help the Redbirds to a 30-6 halftime lead.

Cranford added one more TD for the Redbirds when he took a handoff, immediately faced two L-P defenders but danced around them, cut outside and broke free for a 64-yard scoring run.

Cranford finished with 201 yards and two TDs on 13 carries, while Rhoades rushed for 14 yards and two TDs and threw for 88 yards.

“We had good penetration at the point of attack, but then there were cut backs and we had a couple guys missing tackles,” Medina said. “The kid (Cranford) is a heck of a runner. The biggest issue is at the point of attack we were solid, but there was that one cut back or a guy wasn’t in his gap and it hurt us.”

The Cavaliers play Woodstock North (1-1) in Week 3 in their Kishwaukee River/Interstate 8 Conference White Division opener at Howard Fellows Stadium. Woodstock North won 48-3 over Harvard on Thursday.

“We just have to regroup, get back to the grind and get back on the winning track,” Medina said.