Four Downs: News and notes from Week 2 in high school football

Lincoln-Way East’s streak ends, locals find success out of state and some Public League worries.

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Maine South’s Kevin Wolf (22) and Frank Bartell (15) stop Warren’s Jailen Duffie (1).

Maine South’s Kevin Wolf (22) and Frank Bartell (15) stop Warren’s Jailen Duffie (1).

Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times

It was a short stint at the top for Warren. 

The Blue Devils’ defense lived up to the hype, but the offense was unable to get much done against Maine South in a 10-2 loss Friday in Gurnee. 

Another major power went down Friday as Lincoln-Way East lost to Naperville Central 20-17. That ends the Griffins’ state-best 21-game winning streak. Lincoln-Way East’s last loss was in the 2018 Class 8A semifinals. 

The Redhawks knocked off Hinsdale Central in Week 1 and arguably have the state’s most impressive résumé after two weeks. 

Seth Lendzion made a 30-yard field goal with one second left to give Naperville Central the victory. Northwestern recruit Reggie Fleurima had eight receptions for 152 yards and two touchdowns for the Redhawks. 

Road warriors

Preseason No. 1 St. Rita picked up a nice 27-14 win against Louisville Trinity on Friday in Kentucky. Trinity has won 27 state championships. 

The Mustangs will travel to Wilmette to face Loyola on Saturday afternoon. Ohio State recruit Kaleb Brown, who was injured in the first quarter of the season-opening loss to Mount Carmel, is expected to be out another two to three weeks. 

Joliet Catholic also impressed out of state. The Hilltoppers beat Cardinal Ritter, a traditional St. Louis power, 30-20. 

Public League worries

There’s no doubt COVID-19 affected Public League schools the harshest. CPS didn’t allow contact days last year, and many schools sat out the spring season entirely. 

It might be a long road back to relevance, even for some of the top teams. Phillips, which lost coach Troy McAllister to Sandburg, fell 33-6 to Batavia in Week 1 and 42-0 to Mount Carmel in Week 2. 

Simeon is 0-2, with a 55-6 loss to Joliet Catholic and a 33-0 defeat at Bolingbrook.  

Morgan Park and Kenwood appear to be the top teams. The Mustangs beat St. Viator on Friday and were competitive in a loss at Fenwick in Week 1.

Kenwood knocked off Lane in Week 1 and beat Hillcrest on the road Friday. 

Fun finishes

There were a handful of fun, last-second victories on Friday night. Lemont, which still doesn’t have a nickname, knocked off Nazareth at the buzzer.

Two juniors pulled off the feat. Quarterback Payton Salomon threw the 40-yard pass to Mike Jabaay. Salomon scrambled to find some space and fired into the corner of the end zone, where Jabaay dived to make the grab. 

The heroics gave Lemont a 15-10 win over the Roadrunners. Watch the final play here:

Lemont is off to a 2-0 start. It beat St. Charles East 41-6 in Week 1 and will travel to Shepard for Week 3. 

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