Dom Bills’ second-quarter interception swings momentum for Sycamore in playoff win against Evergreen Park

EVERGREEN PARK — Evergreen Park was mounting a drive in the second quarter to pull back to within a single score, but Dom Bills had a different plan.

The Sycamore linebacker intercepted quarterback Deijon Feliciano and returned it 20 yards, allowing Sycamore to score late and pad the lead to three scores in an eventual 48-21 win in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs.

“It feels great to give them the ball at the 50, 40-yard line and then capitalize off it, it feels great,” Bills said. “It’s the biggest thing, turning turnovers into scores. It’s what wins games.”

Down 21-7, Evergreen Park (6-4) started driving from its own 15, with Feliciano completing three straight passes to Michael Torres. But that’s where the drive ended, as Bills leaped to come up with the pick, bringing it back to the 35 of the Mustangs.

“It was huge. They thought they found something and I knew I had to adjust,” Bills said. “I was there. I was ready for it. They threw it three times, four times in a row and thought I wouldn’t adjust. But I knew what I had to do.”

Four plays later, quarterback Eli Meier rolled out for a 6-yard run and a 28-7 lead at the break.

It was the second time in the half the Spartans (6-4) turned a Feliciano pick into a score. After Sycamore went three-and-out on its first possession, the defense put Feliciano and the Mustangs into a third-and-8. Brody Armstrong intercepted the pass on the right side, then the Spartans put together a 49-yard scoring drive, capped by a 12-yard pass from Meier to Jacob O’Donnell and a 7-0 lead.

“We had two of those there to get us scores right before the half,” Sycamore coach Joe Ryan said. “We don’t want to turn the ball over and we want to turn the ball over against them, create extra possessions. Getting those two scores right before the half were just daggers.”

The teams traded scores on their next possessions, but the Sycamore defense came up with a stop, aided by a hold that turned a third-and-6 into a third-and-22 and brought about the punt on the next play.

The Spartans scored again on the next drive, with Meier finding Sam Carlson on a streak downfield for 28 yards and a 21-7 lead with 1:51 left.

Carlson and Meier would hook up on a streak in the fourth quarter for 64 yards that pushed the lead to 48-7 and triggered the running clock. Evergreen Park got two touchdowns against the Sycamore second team.

Meier finished the game 9 for 10 for 187 yards and three touchdowns and also ran for 51 yards and a score.

“I’ve told him he needs to be great for us,” Ryan said of his junior quarterback. “He can’t just be good. He’s got to be great. And I thought he was great for us tonight.”

Carlson not only had two catches, both touchdowns, for 94 yards but also ran 19 times for a game-best 123 yards and a touchdown.

“We knew we just wanted to punch it down their throat the entire game, run it hard down the middle,” Carlson said. “That’s what Sycamore does.”

Kayden Galto also got an interception, adding one in the third quarter. The defense held James Williams, the South Suburban Red player of the year, to 35 yards.

“That was a great team win. The defense put us in perfect position to score,” said Carlson, who also threw for a two-point conversion to Meier in the win. “It happened pretty much the entire game. Credit out to our defense for stopping them and credit out to our offense for scoring points.”