Herald-News Football Notebook: Bolingbrook finds way to fill out offensive line

In a June workout, Bolingbrook head coach John Ivlow looked up and realized he only had four offensive linemen.

Casting aside the obvious problem that would cause and the amount of illegal formation penalties that would follow if the Raiders didn’t do something about it, Ivlow had to get to work on how to solve arguably the biggest issue his team was likely to face.

“We’ve had basic training all offseason,” Ivlow said. “We took from the defensive line and have just been filling in the blanks and hodgepodge the whole summer. But yeah, there were about six to eight weeks where we couldn’t fully scrimmage because we only had four lineman. Then we just started going to the defensive line and were like, ‘Come over here, you’re on O now.’ ”

Based on the performance of the group, maybe scrimmaging as a full unit is overrated.

Bolingbrook’s newly crafted line, despite facing a bit of a size disadvantage against Minooka in its 49-12 win, did an excellent job of making sure freshman quarterback Jonah Williams didn’t have to sweat much in his incredible debut. Williams finished with 407 yards passing and seven passing touchdowns.

Most of Williams gaudy yardage totals came after the Raiders set up a number of screen plays that allowed the talented wide receivers to find open space to create. The offensive line performed almost perfectly.

“Compared to where they were in June, they were phenomenal,” Ivlow said. “They’ve come a long way.”

Despite the comfortable win, Ivlow wasn’t all smiles when the dust cleared. The blemish on the win was the heavy amount of penalties accumulated.

“I was very disappointed with that, and it seems like every year we have got to work on that,” Ivlow said. “I don’t know, I told the coaches after the game if they figure out a way to correct that, I’ll give you a medal.”

The new wave

Joliet Catholic entered the season with a lot of unknowns at the skill positions after breezing its way to a Class 4A state championship.

Jordan Anderson now is at the University of Illinois, Herald-News Player of the Year Vinny Iannatone is at Tennesse-Martin and Aidan Voss at Iowa Western. That trio was a big part of an offense that produced more than 700 points in 14 games.

Now that much of that unit has graduated, what’s the next step? And more importantly, who was going to fill those big shoes?

If the Hilltoppers Week 1 win over Waterford, Wisconsin, is any indication they have plenty of players ready, willing and capable of filling those voids.

Junior HJ Grigsby needed only five carries to amass 131 yards rushing, while senior Aaron Harvey scored three times on 105 yards. Brett Mouw just missed making it a trio of 100-yard rushers in the game with 95 yards on only seven touches.

Louisville baseball commit TJ Schlageter took over the offense, and while the 49-14 victory didn’t present a lot of opportunities for the Hilltoppers passing game, there’s little reason to question his arm strength should the need arise.

Record pace

Reed-Custer had a breakout season last year, advancing to the Class 3A quarterfinals and winning a pair of playoff games for the first time in program history.

The Comets appeared determined to maintain that momentum, winning 67-0 in their season opener against Elmwood Park.

The lopsided win established a program record for points scored in a game, and the -43 yards of total offense allowed to Elmwood Park also set a record.

Individually, Gavin Bruciak notched four quarterback sacks, establishing yet another school record.