By Mark Gregory
@Hear_The_Beard
After a 4-1 start to the season, the Lockport football team was looking to earn its fifth win of the season, become playoff eligible as well as do something it has not done in more than 20 years – beat Bolingbrook for two consecutive seasons.
While the Porters put up a good fight, however, in the end lost the game 27-22.
“We had a 14 point swing there in the third quarter,” said Lockport coach Dan Starkey. “We get a big interception and a big return and what happens? We lost it on downs and let them score and that was the ballgame. We had all the momentum in the world, we just couldn’t put them away on our own field.
“I am, proud of our kids’ efforts. We just didn’t play very well tonight on offense or defense and our kickoff coverage wasn’t very good either.”
Bolingbrook surpassed 300 yards rushing with eight running backs.
“They cut the ball back on us tonight and we knew we had to tackle better and we left a lot of plays on the field offensively,” Starkey said.
The Porters were paced offensively by Austin Hoffman, who tallied 75 yards on seven catches, grabbing a pair of Ben Davis touchdown passes.
John Savage, who got the start at running back because of injury and ineligibility, ran for 107 yards on 31 carries.
“He did a great job,” Starkey said. “Our offensive line continues to battle and we struggled early in the pass game. We had some guys out with eligibility issues this week, but hopefully we will get them back next week.”
Starkey said while the game was important for the Raiders, it was equally as important for the Porters.
“We have to win too,” he said. “We want to secure six wins as fast as we can and we took a step back from that tonight. But, hopefully we can learn from this game. There are a lot of correctable things we can work on. We just have to stay together and we will be back next week.”
Lockport will face 4-2 Lincoln-Way West next week with winless Stagg the week after and 5-1 Lincoln-Way East to round out the season.