Devils end skid, close in on playoff berth

Ken Ryan, Sports Writer | Hinsdale Doings | Published October 11, 2006

By this point in the season, senior tackle John Rogowski figured the Hinsdale Central football team would be positioning itself for the best possible playoff seed.
    
Instead, the Red Devils find themselves battling for a postseason berth.
“We didn’t think it last year and we certainly didn’t think it this year,” Rogowski said of Hinsdale Central fighting for its playoff lives. “But you have to handle every challenge that comes your way.”
    
Hinsdale Central handled its latest challenge with a convincing 30-12 West Suburban Conference Silver Division win over upstart Proviso West Saturday in Hillside.
    
The victory, the first for the Red Devils (4-3, 1-3 in Silver) in conference play, halted a three-game losing streak and likely put them within one win of securing its sixth straight playoff berth. Hinsdale Central also endured a three-game losing streak last season before eventually reaching the Class 8A state semifinals.
    
Hinsdale Central will play host to Glenbard West (1-6, 1-3 in Silver) Friday, Oct. 13, and Lyons Township (3-4, 1-3) Oct. 20 to close out the regular season. Since 2001, just 21 out of 305 teams that won five games failed to earn a playoff berth.

“This was a big win,” senior quarterback Zach Leathers said. “We have to get this turned around again and this was another step towards the playoffs. It’s a big confidence boost for everybody. We need one more win to get to the playoffs. We’re battling.”

The game was a defensive struggle for most of the first half Saturday, but the final couple minutes were quite eventful.
Leathers scored on a 3-yard run with 2 minutes, 20 seconds left to put the Red Devils ahead 7-0 following the first of four extra-point kicks by Sean Lacy, who also had four touchbacks on the day.
    
On Proviso West’s ensuing possession, Rogowski (3 sacks, 6 tackles) was involved in a pair of sacks, with Matt Kajmowicz (2 sacks, 7 tackles) and Jack DiNardo (2 sacks, 5 tackles) also contributing, sandwiched around an incompletion that pinned the Panthers back at their own 10. On fourth down, Proviso West (3-4, 1-4 in Silver) snapped the ball out of the back of the end zone for a safety to give the Red Devils a 9-0 advantage with 1:55 left. Leathers then capped a seven-play drive with his second 3-yard TD run to make the score 16-0 with 40.3 seconds remaining before the break.
    
That proved to be enough time for the Panthers to get on the board.
    
On second down, from the Proviso West 21, Justin Hightower (6 catches, 109 yards) made an acrobatic catch when he tipped the ball to himself and tip-toed out of bounds for a 50-yard gain with 4.1 seconds left. A pass interference call on the Red Devils gave the Panthers the ball at the 14 with no time on the clock. Then, after a holding penalty by Proviso West and another pass interference penalty on the Red Devils resulted in the play being run yet again, quarterback Anthony Shorter dumped a short pass to Lavere Kidd, who fought his way into the end zone for a 14-yard TD to pull Proviso West within 16-6 at halftime.
    
That was as close as Proviso West would get, however, as Hinsdale Central outscored the Panthers 14-0 in the third quarter to take a comfortable 30-6 advantage.
    
“We certainly think this could be a springboard for us,” Hinsdale Central coach Mike DiMatteo said. “We still have a bunch of seniors who are learning new things and it takes time and it takes patience. Sometimes I don’t want to be as patient as I need to be, but that’s the way it is. They’re good kids and they fight hard and I’m proud of them.”
Hinsdale Central, which did not attempt a pass in the second half, increased its lead to 23-6 when Max Schram pounded the ball into the end zone from 6 yards out with 6:42 left in the third quarter.
    
Clayton Passero (5 carries, 74 yards) made it 30-6 when he took an option pitch from Leathers, who had already picked up three yards on the play, and raced around the left end for a 10-yard TD run with 2:02 left in the third quarter.
   
 “I turned upfield and I wasn’t thinking about pitching it to him, but (Passero) started calling my name,” Leathers said. “I could tell by his voice that he was close, so I just threw it out to him and he was right there and walked into the end zone.”
Hinsdale Central — helped in large part by linemen Alex Nelson, Robert Mains, Tim Curran, Kevin Cruwys and Ben Schultz — gained 304 yards on the ground.
   
 Leathers finished with 96 rushing yards on 18 carries and completed 4 of 7 passes for 74 yards.
  
  “Zach was getting the ball on the edge with the pitch and that’s something we’ve had a hard time doing,” DiMatteo said. “He’s a first-year option quarterback and that’s a very difficult concept to understand. He showed a lot of forward progress today.”
Proviso West’s Perry Childs scored on a 7-yard run to close the game’s scoring with 5:46 left in the fourth quarter.

Copyright © 2006, The Doings