Volume 2 – Issue No. 6

The Wildcats faced one of the best athletes we’ve encountered on a football field this season, when the Dwight Trojans came to take their shot at an upset. Since Jordan Kohrt and some of his teammates rejoined the team for Week Four, they had defeated Westmont and had played Lisle tough before losing to them in overtime.

Dwight always seems to have big kids in the line, but they typically lack the speed and swagger to compete against us. This year, they were much more effective than usual. In our first five games, we had allowed 250 yards total on the ground. According to my tally, Dwight picked up 107 rushing against us, and Mr. Kohrt had nearly all of those.

Dwight was the first team among six who have tried, to hold Wilmington scoreless for the entire first quarter. Except for the opener at Manteno, when we led 7-6 at the half, Friday evening’s halftime lead of 14-0 was the smallest we have enjoyed so far in 2010.

Our offense was a bit slow to get rolling. For the first time all season, we went three-and-out on our first possession. Dwight was on offense for 13 of the first 16 plays of the game. Then the Wildcat defense kicked in when Garrett Saulters’ stepped in front of a Trojan receiver at the 18-yard-line and opened the scoring at 10:13 of the second quarter. Three-and-a-half minutes later. Blake Olson got to finish up a two-handoff play and weave his way to the end zone from 26 yards out.

On special teams, Ty Kane dropped the Dwight return man on our first two kicks of the game, and he had a couple of nice pass breakups on defense. Jeremy collected a sack in the first and last quarters of the game. The kick-receiving duties were shared among Blake Olson, Zach Skoryi and Robert Sanchez, all of whom took good care of the ball.

Aside from the interception that Saulters returned for a score, there were no other turnovers by either side in Friday’s game. What the game lacked in turnovers, it made up for with penalties. I had Dwight with at least six penalties for 50 yards, and Wilmington with at least eight for 85 yards.
Two of our penalties created first downs for Dwight on their second scoring drive. We were called for a 15-yarder that kept the Trojans from having to test us at fourth down-and-two. Two plays later, an Offside penalty against Wilmington helped them convert on second down-and-two. Two plays later, the Dwight ball-carrier ran it in from the 29.

Senior Steve Liaromatis was extremely efficient carrying the ball Friday. He had only two carries all evening, but each went for touchdowns – from 5 yards away and then 60 yards out. An average yards per carry of 33.5 isn’t really too hard to take.

The Players of the Week for the games at Seneca began with Andrew Lairomatis (#20) from the freshman squad that defeated the Irish 18-6. The Sophomore selected this week was Mike Wolfe (#25) who was part of his team’s 41-0 shellacking of Seneca. On the varsity, junior Max Lyday,(#79 received the award for Defensive Player of the Week for his work in the line, and senior Mike Popovich (#61) took home the bobble-head for being the Offensive Player of the Week.

Sometimes the most difficult part about winning at Westmont is finding their school. You’ll need to get on I-55 north of Joliet and continue on I-55 to the Kingery Expressway, which is Route 83. You’ll need to turn onto northbound Route 83 headed toward Willowbrook. Travel north on Route 83 to Route 34, which is Ogden Avenue. You want Ogden westbound, so you’ll actually go under Ogden and then exit to the right. If you follow the ramp around, you will be headed south at a stop sign at Ogden.

Turn right on Ogden and continue west about 1.2 miles to where Blackhawk Avenue turns to the right. The street to the right just prior to Blackhawk will be Westmont Drive. Turn right onto Blackhawk and travel north about .8 of a mile (past Ty Warner Park and a golf course). When you come to Oakwood Drive make a sharp right turn back to the southeast and by then their stadium lights should lead you in the rest of the way.

The last time we played up there, the visitors’ seating was miserable. It was small, poorly lit, and in a hole. You also have to watch for the goose poop everywhere from the occupants of the pond behind the bleachers. If you sat in the first row of those bleachers, your eye-level would match up with our players’ knees.

Rumor has it that Westmont has invested in some new visitors’ seating. Before you walk over there, if it appears that those new stands are full, check out the north end of the home bleachers. The two previous times we’ve been there, we’ve chosen to sit in the upper corner of the home bleachers. There’s always been plenty of room. You can see the whole field, it’s well-lit and you don’t have to walk a half-mile for popcorn.

Football hasn’t been a source of much success at Westmont High School for a very long time. Before they joined the Interstate 8 Conference in 2006, they were part of the Suburban Prairie Conference that included schools like Sycamore, Herscher, Kaneland, and Geneva. In their final ten years in the Suburban Prairie, they amassed a record of 16 wins and 75 losses. Their best season among those ten was 2005, when they went 4-5. Westmont has had a losing record in 14 of the past 15 seasons. Only twice in 63 year of football has Wilmington had three consecutive losing seasons.

They joined the I-8 the following year and actually made the playoffs with a 6-3 record, posting wins over Peotone, Herscher, Dwight, Coal City, Seneca and Reed-Custer. We were 5-5 that season, but we beat the Sentinels, 7-6. In the playoffs, Westmont opened with a 34-24 win over Aurora Christian before being eliminated by Plano, 44-37. Plano went on to be state champs that year. Since that season,

Westmont has reverted to losing records, including 0-9 a year ago. Following their football program can’t be much fun. Their 15-year record: 31 wins, 104 losses. In that same span, the Wildcats posted 135 wins and 31 losses.

We should remember and be grateful for our current successes, because things haven’t always been so rosy around here.

See you in the Bleachers!

Bill Francis

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