Stevenson survives scare from Lyons in opening round

LINCOLNSHIRE — On Halloween night, 16th-seeded Lyons put a fright not only into their first-round opponent — top-seeded Stevenson — but the entire Class 8A bracket.

All Friday night, Lyons’ pressure defense had the Patriots’ offense behind the chains. And when Stevenson — which would eventually win 21-17 — took over on the Lions’ 46-yard line with 8:16 remaining in the game, the Patriots trailed 17-14.

But on the ensuing drive, Stevenson senior quarterback Willie Bourbon converted two third downs and senior running back Jack Joseph bounced off three Lions tacklers on his eighth carry of the night before finishing in the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown. That gave the Patriots the lead and Stevenson (10-0) held on the rest of the way, fending off a furious upset effort by the Lions and advancing to the second round.

“It’s never easy in the playoffs,” said Bourbon, who was held to 9-of-17 passing for 97 yards by a well-designed Lyons defense. “When you get out here it’s a new season, it’s 0-0. It’s either win or go home from here on out.”

To pull off an upset of this magnitude, Lyons (5-5) had to play mistake-free football and control time of possession. It did both, and although the Lions trailed 14-10 at the break, they committed no turnovers and ran 40 plays to Stevenson’s 17 (Lyons senior quarterback Tom Fielder had an efficient game with 129 total yards). Fifteen of those first-half plays were handoffs to workhorse running back Leonard Ross for 63 yards. And on Lyons’ first possession of the second half, Ross scored from three yards out to give the Lions a 17-14 lead with 2:26 left in the third quarter.

Stevenson’s second-half offense stalled repeatedly, incurring three three-and-outs on its first four possessions. But the defense stepped up. On three consecutive possessions while leading 17-14, the Lions went for a first down on fourth down. They were stopped short every time.

“We knew we had to get some stops. Early in the game they were converting. We thought if we are going to win this game we have to do it with our defense,” Patriots senior nose tackle Blake Drazner said.

Joseph finished the game with 100 yards rushing and two catches for 34 yards and a touchdown. After his go-ahead touchdown, Lyons got the ball back one final time with 2:45 remaining.

Ross, who had carried the ball five previous times on the Lyons possession for 33 yards, lost the ball on the Stevenson 47-yard line when Patriots junior defensive back Tyler Vincent punched it out. Patriots senior lineman Pat O’Connell recovered the fumble, sealing the victory for Stevenson.

“We give it to our best kid all the time. He’s the best player we got. He’s the best I’ve ever had. It’s a tough break,” Lyons coach Kurt Weinberg said of Ross, who finished with 166 yards on 34 carries. “We weren’t scared coming in here. We came here to do one thing which we didn’t get done.”