L-P makes big plays in Meet the Cavs scrimmage

All summer, the La Salle-Peru football team has focused on improving its blocking.

L-P coach Jose Medina was pleased to see that work translate to the field Friday during the annual Meet the Cavs scrimmage at Howard Fellows Stadium.

“We wanted to come out here, move the ball and show what we have and what we’ve been working on the last 2 1/2 months,” Medina said. “[We were working on] getting off the ball, sustaining blocks and getting out on the perimeter.”

The offense started strong Friday as senior Mason Lynch took a pitch on the first play and took it 65 yards for a touchdown.

Later, on a fourth-down play, junior quarterback Brendan Boudreau ran a keeper up the middle for a 61-yard score.

“We made some big plays,” Medina said. “I think it was just the blocking, and those boys have some speed. Brendan is tall and lanky, and he’s deceptively fast. With Mason, if you get him space and some blockers in front, he’s going to make people miss. He’s made some big plays throughout his career at L-P. It was nice to get him out in space and let him be an athlete.”

Despite the success, the L-P coaches and the officials pointed out there are still some things for the Cavaliers to clean up.

“One thing that coach [Nathan] Boudreau brought up and the refs brought up was we are making those little mistakes,” Medina said. “There’s still things we can work on, which is great. That’s the beauty of having the refs here because they can point out some things to us, and we can get out there and fix those things and tweak them.

“[We made some mistakes] lining up, jumping the gun a little bit and not getting up far enough on the line of scrimmage for our receivers and stuff like that.”

Medina also was happy with the defense’s effort.

“They were moving fast,” Medina said. “They were making plays. We got two turnovers and had some nice tackles for loss. All in all, we did pretty well.”

At the end of the scrimmage, the Cavs worked on special teams with junior soccer player Seth Adams kicking field goals. He connected on several attempts with a long of 41 yards.

“He’s got a strong leg, and we’re excited to see what he can do,” Medina said. “Kicking is a big part of the game. You want to try to get points on the board as much as you can. He gives us another option if our offense can’t put it in.”

With the scrimmage over, the Cavs turn their attention to game week and their first opponent, United Township.

The Panthers, who were 4-5 last season, come to Howard Fellows Stadium for a 7 p.m. nonconference game Friday.

United Township is back on the schedule for the first time since 2017. The Cavs played UT 10 times between 2006-17.

“They’re a better opponent than when we played them in the past,” Medina said. “Watching film on them, they’ve got some speed. The biggest thing [for game week] is just making sure we stay healthy. We have some bumps and bruises already, but the biggest thing right now is just getting together, regrouping and making things happen.”