Ryan Ostry
Bugle Reporter
@RyanOstry_BR18
rostry@buglenewspapers.com
The Minooka Indians did not allow a potential trap game to hold them back from clinching a playoff berth Friday night, as they did just that, by defeating the Romeoville Spartans (0-7, 0-7) by a final score of 58-0.
Minooka running back Davonte Welcher breaks free against the Spartans defense in its 58-0 victory. (Photo by Ryan Ostry)
“[Upsets] have happened in the past so we wanted to make sure our kids knew to not look past any team,” Minooka coach John Belskis said. “You can only try to influence kids and not control them, so we wanted to make it clear nothing is fun when you don’t win a football game.”
Minooka (5-2, 5-2) started off the game with a blocked punt and touchdown recovery by junior Ernesto Ramirez, giving the Indians an early 7-0 lead within the first six minutes of action.
The special teams for Belskis’ crew didn’t stop there, as they would soon after add two more points on a safety.
“[Special teams success] is reflected in our practices,” Belskis said. “We don’t want to leave any stone unturned, because we don’t have the [Division I] talent some of these others schools have so for our kids we have to put them in the best possible situations to be successful.”
Alluding to not having the Division I talent some other teams have, and while having a young team, the Indians start a total of 17 juniors, as well as two sophomores.
Minooka added two more scores to end the first quarter with a seven-yard touchdown run by junior running back Noah Ellens (6-81 rushing), and then added to their lead on a fumble recovery by junior cornerback Nick Schultz.
In the second quarter, Minooka got going with a 14-yard run by junior running back Connor Etzkorn, followed by a 70-yard run by Ellens putting his name in discussion for MVP of the game.
Even though the Indians led by a score of 36-0 at half, the 20 points put up by Belskis’ offense wasn’t good enough in his eyes.
“We didn’t play a very good half of offense in the first half,” Belskis said. “We scored 16 points on defense, so we had to come back and figure out how we were going to be a better offense team through making the correct adjustments.”
Showing a little life to the start of the third quarter, 6-foot, 5-inch Romeoville quarterback Zach Gibson took his team down into Indian territory, chewing up almost five minutes on the game clock, but couldn’t come away with any points.
Spartans quarterback Zach Gibson scrambles out of the pocket against the Indian defense Friday night. (Photo by Ryan Ostry)
Minooka would strike again with its first passing touchdown of the night with a 34-yard pitch and catch from junior quarterback Seth Lehr (3-for-8 for 92 yards) to Etzkorn.
The Indians showed no remorse toward the end of the third and fourth quarter scoring on 56-yard run and 42-yard run by senior running back Davonte Welcher (5-115 rushing).
Romeoville coach Oliver Gibson, declined to comment after the game about his teams performance.