Prep football: Joliet Central beats Joliet West; both finish 3-6

JOLIET – Joliet Central survived a determined Joliet West second-half effort and a snow squall Saturday to capture its first victory on the gridiron against the Tigers since 1989.

The Steelmen won, 20-9, at home to cap a 3-6 campaign overall and in the Southwest Prairie Conference, while the Tigers also had the same record.

“We hung on,” Steelmen coach Brett Boyter said. “Joliet West showed a tremendous amount of toughness. We were up 20 on them at halftime, and they came out and played harder than we did in the second.

The Steelmen took their opening possession 72 yards in nine plays to go up, 7-0. Quarterback Jared King found receiver Jaylin Berry over the middle for a 40-yard touchdown strike.

Central extended its lead to 14-0 in the second quarter when senior running back Ke’Andre Wiley ran it in from the 3-yard line to cap an 11-play, 64-yard scoring drive. The big play of the drive was a screen pass from King to Elijah Smith that went for 37 yards.

Wiley, who also plays linebacker, helped set up that drive by sacking West quarterback Alfonso Sanchez for a 13-yard loss on a fourth down play.

“Give our guys a lot of credit. We came out, and we executed the game plan early on really well,” Boyter said. “We hung on and did enough to win.”

The snow squall that blew through the Joliet area also helped the Joliet Central effort.

Steelmen linebacker Demaris Stanley sacked Sanchez for a 17-yard loss on a third down play forcing Joliet West to punt from its end zone. The West punt traveled only 10 yards due to the wind and snow, giving the Steelmen the football at the Tigers’ 15-yard line.

Wiley ran it two times and made it to the 1-yard line. King ran it in from there to make it 20-0, which was the halftime score.

“What can I say about [King] that I haven’t said before,” Boyter said. “Jared’s just a leader, plain and simple. He’s quiet, confident and well-prepared. He makes plays when he needs to. He’s been just phenomenal for us. We would not have won the three games we’ve won without him this year.”

West started the second half by driving the ball to Central’s 2-yard line, but Sanchez fumbled and Wiley recovered it. The Tigers held the Steelmen and forced a punt, but Wiley had trouble with the snap and the ball went out of the end zone for a safety.

The Tigers took the ensuing kickoff and marched 48 yards for a score, a 9-yard run by Sanchez that pulled West to within 20-9 with 3:46 to play in the third quarter.

“I’m proud of them. They worked hard. Today, we just made too many mistakes, and the weather didn’t cooperate, obviously,” first-year Joliet West coach Bill Lech said. “It was a learning experience. It was the first time for us. We will just get better.”

Wiley put the win into perspective.

“This is the first time we’ve beaten West since 1989. It’s really surreal. We practiced hard all week. We came out focused. We stayed disciplined in our assignments, and we just did what we needed to do,” Wiley said.