Sandwich’s late drive propels it to KRC win against Johnsburg

JOHNSBURG – The later it gets in a close game, the more important experience becomes.

And Sandwich’s experience is right where you want it to be for its offense to succeed.

Led by a senior-laden offensive line, Sandwich’s run-dominated offense launched a devastating 16-play, 94-yard drive in the fourth quarter to lead it to a 28-21 victory over Johnsburg on Friday night.

After consecutive three-and-outs to start the secod half, Sandwich (2-2, 2-0 KRC) took possession at its own 6-yard line with only 29 seconds left in the third quarter of a tie game. Sandwich then bled 8:38 off the clock before Nick Michalek ran the ball in from 9 yards out.

It was all led by a line featuring four seniors: left tackle Jackson Heilemeier, left guard Tate Frieders, right guard Peter Popp and right tackle Quinn Rome.

“We have a senior group that was able to settle in. They knew the moment,” Sandwich coach Kris Cassie said. “And our entire starting backfield is back from last year. So it’s a group that just kind of pulled together in the tough moment ... got a heck of a drive going. That’s their trust in one another.”

Michalek was the biggest beneficiary of the stellar play up front. In one of his biggest games to date, he ran for 132 yards on 16 carries and three touchdowns, the last of which was the biggest.

Johnsburg (2-2, 1-1 Kishwaukee River) had one final opportunity to tie the game late. However, after advancing from the Skyhawks’ own 19 to the Sandwich 41, Carter Block’s pass was picked off by Brady Behringer with just 1:31 on the clock.

Turnovers were the story of the day for Johnsburg. The Skyhawks committed three. Sandwich’s Nate Hill picked off a pass on the first play of the game before Dom Rome recovered a fumble on the second Johnsburg possession.

“We definitely started out flat, spotting them a 14-point start, and you’re just not going to beat a good team when you play like that,” Skyhawks coach Sam Lesniak said.

Those turnovers, plus Sandwich’s domination up front, allowed the visitors to jump out to a 21-7 lead following runs of 9 and 17 yards from Michalek and a 2-yard run by fullback Diego Gomez.

Gomez also came up big in the game, especially early. He had 76 yards on the day, including 34 yards on Sandwich’s first three drives.

“All practice our motto has been first down we gotta go hard. We need to do that early, and we did that, obviously,” Michalek said. “We kind of ran into a roadblock [early in the second half], but we got our motto back going and our energy back up. I think we just wanted it more.”

The Skyhawks clawed back into the game behind two touchdown passes from Block to Ryan Franze. Duke Mays added a 2-yard touchdown run with 5:43 to go in the third quarter that tied the game at 21.

Block was 15-of-27 passing for 144 yards. Franze caught six passes for 62 yards.