Herald-News Football Notebook: Joliet Catholic blocking overcomes slow start to dominate Iowa City

JOLIET – Run the ball well, play good defense and block well up front. Through different coaches and players over the years, that much has remained a constant at Joliet Catholic Academy. That was the formula once again for the Hilltoppers in their season opening 50-22 win over Iowa City. The offense ran for 333 yards while the defense compiled five sacks, forced three turnovers with two-pick sixes and blocked an extra point attempt.

As for the blocking? The veteran unit got off to a bit of a slow start, but like the rest of the Hilltoppers, they came along as the game progressed.

“We kind of challenged them at halftime a little bit,” coach Jake Jaworski said. “We’ve got some big guys who are athletes. We want them to use that to their advantage. Sometimes they were kind of eying things up to just get off the ball and go. But overall I think they did good.”

The offense went three-and-out its first possession while the second possession was setback by a costly penatly. After that, however, JCA scored on every possession until the fourth quarter. Nate Magrini had two of the five offensive touchdowns for the Hilltoppers. He never lost confidence that they’d get rolling eventually.

“We just had to get the alignments right,” Magrini said. “We were kind of messing up on formations and stuff. After we got locked in we got our jobs done, scored the ball well, [moved] very efficiently. I do appreciate all my linemen for all the blocks I got. I just thank them every day.”

JCA will play at Ottawa Friday.

Revenge?

Last year was an inspiring one for Joliet West. It was the Tigers’ first winning season since 2016, and they hosted a playoff game for the first time in program history, finishing 8-2.

It’s only one week, but Joliet West is keeping that momentum going in 2024.

The Tigers opened the season with a 36-15 victory over Sheppard and now are primed for a game they’ve been hyped up for all summer. Joliet West hosts Morris Friday in a nonconference game. That “2″ at the end of their 2023 record includes their playoff loss. The one loss in the regular season? It came against Morris, which is 1-0 after besting Coal City last week.

The Tigers probably will say “just another game” and such, but this is high school football. There’s little doubt linebacker Micah McNair, receiver Payton Turner and the rest of the team have forgotten about it. They’ll surely be out for vengeance at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

A tale of two halves

Morris and Coal City had a first half Friday they would like to forget, especially on offense. Morris had seven penalties for 78 yards before halftime and turned the ball over three times. Coal City, meanwhile, finished the first half with just 76 total yards and saw their starting quarterback, Zander Meents, go down with an injury on the final play of the first half, and he did not return.

Both offenses got things going a little better after halftime. Morris’ Griffin Zweeres ran for 55 of his 78 yards in the second half, including two touchdowns, while Coal City’s Landin Benson, limited to 37 yards on 14 carries before halftime, picked up 39 yards on seven attempts in the second half.

“It was a tough spot for our sophomore quarterback [Matthew Crichton],” Coal City coach Francis Loughran said. “But he’s a talented kid and did some good things. We hope for the best with Zander, but we’ll have to wait and see what the doctors say.

“Landin just wears people down. That’s the type of player he is. It takes a little while for him to get going, but when he breaks a few big runs, it fires up the offensive line to see their running back do that.”

Morris coach Alan Thorson also was pleased with his team’s performance in shaking off a shaky first half.

“We don’t normally play the way we did in the first half,” Thorson said. “We had a lot of penalties and we had some trouble on special teams. We saw Griffin Zweeres play with a lot of heart in the second half, and that was a positive. [Quarterback] Brady Varner can make plays, too.

“I was happy with the way we put the game away in the fourth quarter, but there is a lot of work to be done before next week.”

Next man up

During Lincoln-Way East’s 49-22 win over Maine South, the Griffins saw starting running back Zion Gist go down with an injury. For most teams, that would be a serious problem, but Lincoln-Way East is not most teams.

Enter Brody Gish, who took Gist’s place in the backfield and racked up 171 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries to complement the 327 yards and four TDs through the air by Oregon-bound quarterback Jonas Williams.

“I came into the game a little nervous, first time on varsity, but I knew I had to step up as soon as I knew Zion [Gist] was out,” Gish said. “It feels great.

“They said it was No. 2 vs. No. 3. We knew we were going to come in here and have a good game. We’ve been practicing since January. For this game, we’ve been working our tails off, all of us. Not a single person on this team hasn’t been working. What a great program we’re in.”

Off to a good start

Several area teams got their seasons started on the right foot with wins in Week 1. Putting their first game in the win column were Dwight, Seneca, Joliet Catholic Academy, Joliet West, Peotone, Wilmington, Morris, Romeoville, Plainfield South, Minooka, Lockport, Lincoln-Way East, Lincoln-Way Central and Lincoln-Way West.