Lincoln-Way Central tops Bradley-Bourbonnais to reach first semi since 2000

BRADLEY – Following their loss to Downers Grove North in the Class 7A quarterfinals last year, Lincoln-Way Central quarterback Drew Woodburn and running back Tyler Tulk said they wouldn’t have believed anyone who told them they’d be semifinalists a year later.

But after a 28-16 win at Bradley-Bourbonnais in a quarterfinal Friday, that’s exactly where they are.

Tulk and Woodburn each scored first-half touchdowns and junior running back Luke Tingley added two more as the Knights overcame an early punch from the Boilermakers and held off the resilient hosts to earn a road win that has the Knights (9-3) in the semifinals for the first time since 2000.

“If you told me we were going to be here last year, I don’t know if I would have believed you, but it feels great,” Woodburn said. “We just worked, worked and worked again.”

In a rematch between SouthWest Valley Conference Green Division rivals – the division-winning Knights earned a 28-6 win in New Lenox in Week 5 – it was the Boilers who struck first when quarterback Gavin Kohl saw his screen pass to freshman running back Kyren Edmon break for a 45-yard touchdown that put the Boilers up 7-0 just 1:15 in.

But the Knights, powered by Tulk (68 yards, TD) and Tingley (123 yards, two TDs), countered. They marched 80 yards on 16 plays, hitting paydirt on Tulk’s 3-yard run that knotted the game at 7 with 3:34 left in the first.

The Boilers took over at their own 43-yard line and got into Knights territory just two plays later, but a fumble allowed the Knights to regain possession at their own 41. Tingley broke loose for a 41-yard TD on the first play of the second quarter to give the Knights a 14-7 lead they’d never lose.

“It’s kind of like thunder and lightning, and they just don’t stop and keep going downhill,” Knights coach David Woodburn said of Tulk and Tingley. “You’ve got to talk about that O-line, constantly just pounding, pounding and pounding. Just a complete team game. Unbelievable.”

The Knights forced a B-B punt on the next drive, and after taking over at their own 27 with 10 minutes left in the half, went 73 yards in nine plays, capped by Drew Woodburn’s 1-yard keeper to grow the lead to 21-7 with 4:29 left.

But the Boilers went back to Edmon to cap a 13-play, 68-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run with three seconds left in the half to make it a 21-14. They attempted an onside kick out of the break, one they appeared to recover just inside Lincoln-Way Central territory.

But the ball was ruled to have been touched at the Boiler 49, meaning it traveled a yard shy of the required 10 yards. The Knights set up shop just inside B-B territory, cashing in with Tingley’s second score of the night, a 2-yard touchdown to make it 28-14 just over two minutes into the third.

“We hadn’t stopped them in six quarters, so we thought, well shoot, let’s at worst make them march a shorter field and try and get it back,” Boilers head coach Mike Kohl said. “It was something we talked about, and I thought we did a good job of covering it up, but they said we touched it early. But it was a great kick by Ellis [Johnson].”

Down two scores, the Boilers had a couple of chances but couldn’t make the most of them. On a fourth-and-2 from the Lincoln-Way Central 44, Lyzale Edmon took a direct snap for a first down, but an illegal hurdle brought the play back for a fourth-and-9, which led to an incomplete pass and turnover on downs.

As both teams saw their defenses take over, the Boilers were still in it when they took over at their own 26 with 6:01 left, and looked like they were on the cusp of making it a one-score game when Malachi Lee got open on a fourth-and-8 and had a full head of steam.

But as he attempted to get past the last two defenders, the ball was punched out and rolled for several yards with Shawn Mowry falling on it at the Knights’ 6-yard line with 4:37 left.

“We missed the coverage, and then I was happy we tackled him, then I was ecstatic we recovered the fumble,” David Woodburn said. “I saw it bouncing around and then we got it; my heart was down in my stomach and then back up.”

Still, the Boilers continued with the mindset they were going to complete the comeback.

“That’s the biggest thing, our kids’ fight until the very end, and we thought we could win until the very end,” Mike Kohl said. “That’s kudos to our kids and senior leadership, they’ve done a great job all year. To win nine games and lose three, that’s pretty fun, and to not just be in a quarterfinal but feel like we could win a quarterfinal, that’s huge.”

The Knights will host either Batavia or the same Downers Grove North team that ended their 2023 season.

“We work and just keep having to work to see what we can do next week at home,” Drew Woodburn said.

Meanwhile, the Boilers will celebrate their deepest postseason run since 2015 and prepare for 2025 with plenty of excitement. They’ll return nine starters defensively and a handful offensively.

“Our two kids that fumbled today are a freshman [Kyren Edmon] and a sophomore [Lee], so you’ve got two kids competing at a really high level, and they’re going to be special,” Mike Kohl said. “It’s going to be fun to watch them develop and watch our program develop.

“We graduate a great senior class, but these last few years we’ve really built something, and these kids are starting to follow and track, and they’re understanding what it takes to win in the offseason. I’m really proud of these guys.”