Jonas Williams, Lincoln-Way East overcome sluggish start to finish fast against Homewood-Flossmoor

FRANKFORT – Lincoln-Way East has been the top-ranked football team in Class 8A all season for a reason. The expectation always will be for them to dominate the competition.

So when they found themselves tied with Homewood-Flossmoor late in the second quarter, the Griffins were well aware of their reality. There was never any panic in the Lincoln-Way East huddle, and by halftime whatever panic may have existed in the stands was gone, as well.

The Griffins shook off a slow start by their high standards to pull out a 49-7 victory over the Vikings on Friday night to remain undefeated. Homewood-Flossmoor is now 3-2.

Lincoln-Way East (5-0) got another great performance by quarterback Jonas Williams. The Oregon commit finished 20-of-24 passing for 281 yards and six touchdowns. He also ran for 48 yards on only three attempts.

Early on, it looked as if Lincoln-Way East would need every yard he picked up. The Griffins were tied with the Vikings 7-7 with just over four minutes to go in the first half with Homewood-Flossmoor at the Lincoln-Way East 15-yard-line. The Griffins got the stop on fourth down and were in total control the rest of the way.

“I’m just really proud of the whole team,” Lincoln-Way East coach Rob Zvonar said. “Special teams, the defense was pretty good after we got off to a rough start. I think the wind blowing 20 miles an hour or whatever was a factor there, but it was a great night. ... I’ve been around Jonas since January, and there are still moments when my jaw drops.”

Williams showed why he’s one of the best prep quarterbacks in the country on the opening drive of the game. With the Griffins facing a fourth-and-5 in H-F territory, the junior rolled out of danger, sidestepped a sack and hit a wide-open Brody Gish for a 22-yard touchdown to put Lincoln-Way East up 7-0 in a hurry.

Homewood-Flossmoor wouldn’t be deterred. They marched down the field, twice converting on fourth down before Jayden Banks took the end around up the left side for a 13-yard touchdown to even the score at 7-7 with 1:34 left in the opening quarter.

After a three-and-out by the Griffins, the Vikings again marched deep into Griffin territory, where Lincoln-Way East picked up the aforementioned stop.

The Griffins went on a stampede of their own from there. A 24-yard run by Williams down to the Viking inch line set up a 1-yard plunge by Gish to put Lincoln-Way East back in front 14-7 with 2:05 left in the half.

After a three-and-out by the Vikings, the Griffins needed only two plays to get back in the end zone. Williams tossed a perfectly placed bomb to Talan White-Hatch who left two defenders behind in the dust for a 53-yard touchdown reception. With 52.4 seconds left on the clock until the break, the Griffins were suddenly up 21-7.

The second half was all Griffins. Williams hit Keagan Ruane for a 33-yard touchdown less than two minutes into the third and followed it up with touchdowns to Christian Remblake and Trey Zvonar before the quarter was over to make it 42-7.

Williams tossed a 28-yard score to Ruane in the fourth to trigger a running clock the rest of the way.

“I think our possessions were limited in the first half a bit because [Homewood-Flossmoor] was kind of holding the ball a lot,” Williams said. “It feels great [to be 5-0], but the job’s not finished.”

Lincoln-Way East will play at Neuqua Valley next week while Homewood-Flossmoor plays host to Metea Valley.