Confident Lincoln-Way West rumbles past Pekin in 7A playoff opener

PEKIN – The Lincoln-Way West football team is brimming with confidence right now.

And it took virtually no time for the Warriors to display that in its Class 7A opening-round matchup with host Pekin on Friday night.

Lincoln-Way West forced a three-and-out on Pekin’s first possession, then zipped down the field in five plays, finishing the drive with a 1-yard touchdown from Jimmy Talley to seize early control.

That confident play carried through for the entire game as Lincoln-Way West (7-3) cruised to a 34-14 victory over Pekin. The win lifts Lincoln-Way West into next weekend’s second round where it will play Batavia, a 54-13 winner over Collinsville in its opening-round matchup.

Lincoln-Way West set the tempo with that opening drive, and although Pekin, which finished 7-3, forged a tie early in the second quarter by converting a short touchdown pass on fourth down, the Warriors barely blinked.

Quarterback Chase Hetfleisch engineered an impressive drive using multiple receivers that culminated with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Austin Rowswell, who made what appeared to be an impossible catch with a defender draped over him as he hauled it in.

Hetfleisch, who finished 14 of 19 for 208 yards, isn’t the least bit concerned when he puts the ball up that it isn’t going to be one of his guys on the opposite end of his throws.

“We know what weapons we have,” Hetfleisch said. “We know what we can do. So that’s why we have all that confidence.”

Buoyed by the go-ahead score, the Warriors forced another quick three-and-out on Pekin. This time, Chase Markowicz took the punt, found the edge and scored from 49 yards out to stretch the Lincoln-Way West lead to 21-7. In less than two minutes, the game went from tied to a two-touchdown game, and while the game still had over a half to play it seemed almost like that punt return was a finishing move.

“This group had a purpose and had a mission when they stepped on this field,” West coach Luke Lokanc said. “We had a game plan that we wanted to stick to and started to execute, and it worked at the beginning. We wanted to dominate field position early, which we did, and wanted to take control of the game that way.”

Lincoln-Way West ran a successful 2-minute drill just before the half to stretch the lead to 24-7 heading into the break, and while Hetfleisch continued to move the chains with some key passes in the second half he turned most of the heavy lifting over to Jahan Abubakar in the second half.

Abubakar got a heavy workload in the second half, gaining chunks of yards and draining minutes off the clock. He broke a 32-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to stretch Lincoln-Way West’s lead further as part of his 157-yard rushing effort.

Pekin’s efforts to rally were thwarted mostly by strong play from the Lincoln-Way West secondary. Many of the Dragons’ passing attempts were of the deep, downfield variety and almost all were turned away. The two that broke through, one in the second quarter to Hudson Nutter and one in the third quarter to Peyton Hess, set up the lone Pekin scores on the night.

“I was proud of the way they [the secondary] stuck to the changes we made on the sideline and executed on the field,” Lokanc said.

The win sends Lincoln-Way West into the second round for the second consecutive year and brings one of Class 7A’s strongholds, Batavia, to New Lenox next weekend.

“I don’t have any initial thoughts on the matchup,” Lokanc said. “But this time of year, you eventually have to play them all, right? We played them back in 2017 and it was a great matchup. We respect that program, and they do things the right way. I’m looking forward to a great week and a great game next week.”