Sports
Spartans Strike Like Lightning
Romeoville scores 29 second-half points on Joliet Central to even record.
JOLIET – The lightning that halted the football game between Romeoville and Joliet Central high schools Saturday struck again shortly after the game resumed Monday afternoon.
It came in the form of the Romeoville offense and defense.
Leading 6-0 at the half, the Spartans (1-1) exploded for 29 points in 12 minutes and 45 seconds during the second half of a 35-0 non-conference victory.
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Joliet Central fell to 0-2.
“Defensively, we did the same thing on Saturday that we did today,” Romeoville coach Jeff Kuna said. “Saturday, we weren’t terrible offensively. We just missed some blocks in crucial situations.”
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“The difference today was we had to play hard and take it to them because coach told us Saturday was one of the worst games he’s ever seen,” Romeoville senior running back Perez Ford said.
Romeoville took it to Joliet Central in the third quarter.
Ford starting the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown run with 7:14 to play in the third quarter.
Joliet turned the ball over and Nick Samuelson returned the interception 25 yards to pay dirt. Moments later, Tim Welch caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Jim Rooks to give the visitors a 28-0 lead with 1:44 left in the third quarter.
“The momentum was going our way, their heads were down, they were tired and our defense was getting three-and-outs,” Ford said.
Joliet failed on a pair of fourth-down tries in the third quarter during Romeoville’s run.
Rooks’ third touchdown pass of the game went for 27 yards to Ford, which made it 35-0 with 6:26 left to play in the fourth quarter.
Joliet Central drove to the Romeoville 21, but fumbled. Caleb Bailey recovered it with 21.4 seconds left in the game to preserve the Spartans’ first shutout since last year’s meeting with the Steelmen (46-0).
Rooks completed 11 of 25 passes for 149 yards and three touchdowns. Miguel Ford, a sophomore and the younger brother of Perez, carried 10 times for 77 yards. Welch caught three passes for 65 yards.
“We scored on four out of five drives,” Kuna said. “That’s the kind of offensive output we expected. For the most part, we were able to mix up the run and the pass and our defense was excellent. It was important for our offense to be efficient to build some confidence. For our defense to post a shutout is great for our confidence, as well.”
