Homewood-Flossmoor football coach Troy McAllister is going to play to win.
His Vikings hosted Lincoln-Way East Friday. The Griffins are the undefeated Southwest Valley Blue pacesetters, ranked No. 2 in the Class 8A Associate Press poll. H-F was coming off a pair of conference losses to Neuqua Valley and Sandburg.
LWE won the game 42-14 but Homewood-Flossmoor coaches and players felt like their effort was improved from the previous weeks.
“Losing 42-14 or 28-14 or 56-14, at the end of the day, you just want to create a mentality where you’re playing to win,” McAllister said. “I have never been one of those coaches who says ‘Let’s keep it close so the scoreboard looks better.’ We took our chances tonight.”
The Vikings did that, hitting on big plays at least a few times but coming up short too frequently to ever seriously threaten to pull off the upset.
Quarterback Rahsaan Coleman connected with senior receiver Joaquin Jordan on passes of 52 and 65 yards. Coleman also threw a pair of interceptions and completed 12-28 for 169 yards.
“I think for one of the first times this year, we played together as a team,” Jordan said. “I would never say we feel good coming out of a loss like this but I definitely feel good that we played more together. We was able to move the ball against one of the top teams in the state.”
Jordan ran for a 1-yard touchdown after that 52-yard catch in the second quarter to cut the lead to 21-7. For a brief window, the Vikings had the momentum. Jordan finished with four catches for 120 yards.
“It’s good to be that for my team. I definitely feel like I’ve got to step more,” he said. “That’s something that’s been in my head this week. They’ve stepped up for me. The coaches have stepped up for me time after time this year when I’ve missed a few big catches. They still put their trust in me and allowed me to come out here and make the big plays.”
The Griffins were led by quarterback Jonas Williams, a University of Southern California commit who last week broke the state’s all-time record for career passing touchdowns. He threw for 241 yards on 13-20 passing and had three throwing scores and one rushing touchdown Friday.
H-F did force Williams to turn the ball over twice. Vikings defensive back Aeneas Allen intercepted Williams and Tyreese Whitcomb recovered a fumble in the second quarter. H-F snagged two more turnovers with Williams out of the game in the second half.
“Our defense really responded tonight and to see them generate pressure, create turnovers was great to see,” McAllister said.
Williams is just the start of LWE’s Big Ten talent. Defensive lineman Jacob Alexander will matriculate to Illinois. Receiver Blaise LaVista is committed to Washington. Junior offensive lineman Mason Halliman and receiver Jay Cawthorn boast major-conference scholarship offers, as well.
The game was the first for Lincoln-Way East (7-0, 4-0) in which a running clock was not triggered. If a team builds a 35-point lead in the second half, the clock stops only for timeouts, injuries and scores. The Griffins won their first four games by an average of 40 points.
“At this point in the season, the moral victories just aren’t there,” McAllister said. “As far as not having a running clock or those things, that’s not the standard we want to set. It’s much higher. And we’re not there, yet, but the effort was much better and we just have to find a way in the next two weeks to keep that effort high and see where the chips fall.”
H-F (3-4, 2-3) may need to win both remaining games to advance to the postseason. Both opponents –Naperville Central and Metea Valley– are under .500.
“I’m not comfortable with our record but I’m comfortable that we can win these next two games and make a stretch in the playoffs,” Jordan said.
