L-P defense shuts down Woodstock, wins 24-0

PERU – All week, the La Salle-Peru defense was talking about recording its first shutout of the season.

The Cavaliers delivered Friday.

L-P held Woodstock to four first downs, 29 rushing yards on 19 attempts and 95 passing yards in a 24-0 victory in a Kishwauke River/Interstate 8 White Division game at Howard Fellows Stadium.

“It’s everything,” L-P defensive lineman Connor Lorden said about the shutout. “Our defense is a big part of our team. We’ve been preaching all week a shutout game, and we got it.”

The Cavs set the tone early, forcing three-and-outs on Woodstock’s first three drives and not allowing a first down until there was 2:26 left in the first half.

“We just like to hit, you know,” Lorden said. “We like to cause damage and just go after it.”

Woodstock’s Kaden Sandoval broke off a 19-yard run for the Blue Streaks’ first first down, accounting for nearly half of the team’s first-half yardage.

“Our defense does a great job of shutting teams down and they did a good job this whole game,” L-P coach Jose Medina said. “Our coaches do a great job of game planning for each and every team. The kids played hard, listened to the game plan and did what they had to do.

“[We had to] read the H-back. He takes you to the ball. We were kind of crowding the box when they had that H-back or tight end in there. We ran to the football. I think we had pretty good team tackling throughout the game.”

L-P’s offense started slow with three-and-outs on its first two drives before putting together a 15-play, 80-yard drive that ate up 8:02 off the clock, capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by Maalik Madrigal with 8:05 left in the second quarter.

With the help of an intentional grounding, the Cavs backed Woodstock up to its own 1-yard line on its next drive, and after an encroachment penalty, the Blue Streaks punted from the 6.

L-P took over at Woodstock’s 23, and six plays later, L-P quarterback Brendan Boudreau scored from 3 yards out to give L-P a 14-0 lead with 3:24 left in the opening half.

“We started slow offensively, but eventually we picked it up,” Medina said. “I think we got them a little tired toward the end of the first half and we put some points on the board.”

The score remained 14-0 until the fourth quarter.

Boudreau was run out of bounds on the L-P sideline on a third-down play and was thrown to the ground. A minor scuffle ensued, and both teams were whistled for personal fouls. An L-P player was ejected, and Boudreau was removed from the game because of concussion protocol.

When play resumed, the Cavs punted, and it bounced off the helmet of a Woodstock player, with L-P’s Kaleb Kennedy picking the ball up and returning it to the Woodstock 27.

The drive stalled after three plays, but Seth Adams booted a 43-yard field goal to give L-P a 17-0 lead with 7:27 left.

After a Woodstock three-and-out, Mason Lynch stepped in at quarterback and broke off a 24-yard run before racing 26 yards on the next play for a TD to extend L-P’s lead to 24-0 with 4:46 left.

“He’s got speed and he’s an athlete and he’s going to make plays,” Medina said.

After being limited to 39 yards in the first half, Woodstock drove 47 yards on nine plays to start the second half, but facing fourth-and-1, the Blue Streaks were whistled for a false start then threw an incomplete pass.

Woodstock recovered a fumble on L-P’s next drive, but was then stuffed on a fake punt.

The Blue Streaks (2-4, 1-3) went three-and-out on their remaining two drives.

“We had a lot of penalties,” Woodstock coach Mike Brasile said. “We got some things going offensively in the second half and we get shut down because of penalties. We had opportunities to get off the field on fourth down and we didn’t do that either. You can’t do that against a good opponent.

“We talked all week about how in order to make the playoffs you have to beat a playoff team. La Salle was a playoff team last year and we just didn’t get the job done.”

The Cavs (4-2, 2-1) head to Ottawa (4-2, 1-2) with the winner becoming playoff eligible.

“I think (the shutout) gives us a lot of momentum and we’re ready to go,” Lorden said.