Pat Disabato’s football notebook

When a team scores 40 points in a game, generally it’s good enough to walk away with a victory — especially if that team is highly ranked in the area.

Homewood-Flossmoor scored 40 points Friday against Lincoln-Way East, but found itself on the losing end of a 43-40 slugfest.

The Vikings roared out to a 20-0 lead just 5:09 into the game, only to watch it all come crumbling down.

“It’s inexcusable,” H-F coach Craig Buzea said. “We know what our weakness is and it’s defense. And against a team like Lincoln-Way East it’s going to be exposed.”

It wasn’t just one area of defense where the Vikings struggled. The Griffins were able to move the ball running and passing the ball pretty much at will.

To compound matters, the Vikings were flagged for more than 100 yards in penalties.

“We have to be more disciplined,” Buzea said. “We have to get better in some areas. We come into Lincoln-Way East and score 40 points and get beat, it’s a problem. But we knew this. We’ll keep working at getting better.”

The good news for the Vikings is the offense remains explosive. Quarterback Bryce Gray, running backs Deante and Devonte Harley-Hampton and wide receiver Kendric Pryor had strong performances vs. East.

Great comeback by L-W East

To say Lincoln-Way East and its fans were excited by the outcome against H-F would be an understatement.

The Griffins have won many games in their remarkable history, though few produced the excitement and fireworks of Friday’s classic.

“It was a crazy game,” East coach Rob Zvonar said. “I’m so proud of the kids. This was as good as victory that we’ve had in this program in a few years.”

While the come-from-behind 43-40 victory was a team effort, there’s no denying the impact of seniors Mike Weller, Liam Morrissey, Paul Gossage and John Zelenika. Weller threw for 346 yards and two touchdowns, Morrissey rushed for 229 yards and four scores, Gossage had four receptions for 115 yards and Zelenika nine catches for 139 yards and two TDs.

That was quite a day at the office.

“Weller had an amazing performance — a lot of our guys really stepped up,” Zvonar said. “We had great balance running and passing the ball. We put ourselves in a bit of a hole, but the kids fought till the end.”