Yorkville running back Michael Kurtz was Public Enemy No. 1 this week for Lemont.
Last week in Yorkville’s first round win over Crete-Monee, Kurtz piled up 276 and two touchdowns on a staggering 51 carries.
As for Lemont, they weren’t having it. Kurtz may get his numbers, but he wasn’t going to beat the Indians.
Slowing down Kurtz to far more manageable stats and letting a ball-hawking defense do the rest, host Lemont rolled to a 35-14 win over Yorkville Saturday in a Class 6A second round game.
“We had a great scheme in practice, just no holes against him,” Lemont linebacker Frank Pignone said. “We knew Yorkville was a tough team, but we wanted the defense to go out first, stop them and get the momentum going for the offense.”
Lemont (11-0) will visit Richards, 34-27 winners over Lincoln-Way West, in next week’s 6A quarterfinals.
Kurtz still piled up the numbers for Yorkville (8-3), rushing 32 times for 145 yards and two touchdowns, but the senior was met by a wall of Lemont defenders on each and every run.
“Good gosh, just too many mistakes,” Yorkville coach Karl Hoinkes said. “We didn’t execute like we should have, and our heads went down when we went behind 14-0. Lemont did a great job bottling up Mike.”
With Lemont’s line stopping Kurtz up front, the Foxes were forced to take to the air where the Indians’ secondary was ready, willing and able to contribute. Both Pignone and Matt Martenson picked off Yorkville quarterback Nathan Scott in the first half to squash drives.
“We wanted to help build up the points for the offense,” Pignone said. “The defense was so eager to get out there. Make a stop, get the offense the ball and put some points up.”
The Indians did just that, capitalizing with quarterback Ryan Dawson finding Jamie Gilsta (32 yards) and Jimmy Kepouros (5 yards) for touchdowns off the Yorkville turnovers. Lemont took a 21-7 lead into halftime.
Dawson finished 14-for-20 for 172 yards and four touchdowns, adding two hookups, 17 and 18 yards respectively, with Duke-bound receiver Flynn Nagel (4 catches, 58 yards) in the second half to help seal the win.
The scary part though? Lemont coach Bret Kooi was less than pleased with his team’s offensive effort.
“When we play our best football, it could be real scary for opposing defenses,” Nagel said. “It wasn’t that we weren’t prepared. We just had too many mental mistakes that we can correct.”
Lemont freshman running back Anthony Martin finished with 101 rushing yards on 21 carries, his 16-yard touchdown run in the first quarter opening the scoring.
Yorkville quarterback Scott finished 4-for-10 passing for 81 yards.
“At moments we did a good job slowing Kurtz down,” Kooi said.
“We can get better at certain situational football. We’ve been preaching about it, but we have to get better at it or sooner or later it will cost us.”
