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SYCAMORE – With its defense surging heading into the Class 5A quarterfinals, the Sycamore football team will have a different challenge Saturday against St. Patrick.
Coach Joe Ryan said the No. 13-seeded Shamrocks are an extremely physical team.
“This one will be a little different because they’re more physical with what they’re doing,” Ryan said. “I like where we’re at defensively, but now we have to continue to get more physical. If we’re not shoulder squared and setting an edge and being physical against these guys, they’ll finish the runs. There’s no running out of bounds for these guys.”
That physicality starts with Alexander Goworowski, the team’s second-leading rusher behind quarterback Jermaine Young. Listed at 6-foot-3, 215 pounds, the senior has been running over opponents all season.
“They are huge, first of all,” Sycamore senior linebacker Kiefer Tarnoki said. “They’re a really good team. They’re physical from what we’ve seen. They’ve had to be physical with all the Catholic schools they’ve had. We definitely have a tough task ahead of us playing a really solid team.”
The Shamrocks’ only in-state losses this year are to St. Rita, Fenwick and Loyola. St. Rita is in the Class 7A quarterfinals, Fenwick is playing in the 5A quarterfinal opposite St. Patrick, and Loyola is in the 8A quarters.
“It’s a real good opponent, and they’ve played some real good teams,” Ryan said. “The 13th seed means nothing. They’ve played some really good teams. They didn’t beat some of those teams, but they know how to play good physical football.”
The No. 9-seeded Spartans (8-3) are coming off a 34-0 shutout of top-seeded Glenbard South, their fourth shutout of the season. They’ve also allowed more than 20 points only five times this year – although in a 48-21 win in the playoff opener at Evergreen Park, the Sycamore starters allowed only seven and EP scored twice during a running clock.
“I think if we play like we did last week, we’ll be good,” defensive lineman Lincoln Cooley said. “I think when we stick together and play as a team, we do really good.”
Tarnoki and Ryan said the defense has been focused on the little things, something they’ve been mostly pleased with. However, in the win last week, the Spartans committed 14 penalties.
“We don’t want to turn on each other with all the penalties, but it’s obviously something we have to work on, be more disciplined than we have been,” Tarnoki said. “If we limit our penalties, do the little things right, we’ll definitely be set.”
Although Ryan said some of those were due to a switch at center in the second half that led to four or five false starts, the holding calls were more worrisome.
“Holding in high school football is the worst call you can have,” Ryan said. “It’s a spot foul. It’s not like the NFL, where it goes back to the line of scrimmage and it’s first-and-20. It could be first-and-27, and you’re completely out of a drive at that point. The holdings, we have to keep our hands in. You can’t let your hands get outside of their frame, and that’s when it gets called.”
In addition to Goworowski, Ryan said Young can be dangerous.
“That quarterback can make plays when there’s no plays to be had,” Ryan said. “He finds lanes to run in, and when the play breaks down, he can make yards where some kids can’t. He’s really good, and both their running backs are downhill runners. If you don’t fit them up in the hole, they’re in the secondary. And I don’t think many of the secondary guys want to tackle the guys who are 6-foot-3, 220 pounds with a full head of steam.”