Lindbergh pulls away
By: Jonathan Duncan
Photos By: Steve Glover
Against the backdrop of homecoming and the undefeated Lindbergh Flyers paying a visit, the Parkway South Patriots football team had plenty of incentive to propel themselves into the thick of the Suburban West race on Friday night (Oct. 9).
Unfortunately for the Patriots, the always tough and crafty Flyers made sure that the homecoming night had as disappointing a finish as the damp, muddy conditions of South's home field.
Lindbergh scored a late first quarter touchdown and then the Flyers’ defense made a pair of second-half field goals stand up as Lindbergh ran its undefeated record to 7-0 (5-0 in Suburban West play) with a 13-0 road victory over the Patriots.
"It is always tough to win games in the Suburban West and there are a lot of great teams and players in this league," Lindbergh Coach Tom Beauchamp said. "We beat a real good team tonight and we feel good about what we were able to accomplish."
The night held a lot of promise for the Patriots (4-3, 3-2 in Suburban West play) but South could not break through with any big plays to score points. The Patriots saw drives bog down near and in the the Flyers’ red zone in every quarter of the game.
"Pretty much every time we got a drive that went deep into their territory we did something to shoot ourselves in the foot," Parkway South Coach Travis Blevins said. "We're a team that's still trying to learn how to avoid stopping ourselves on drives."
That was never more apparent than midway through the second quarter.
Down 7-0, the Patriots marched from the Lindbergh 46-yard line to the Flyers’ 19.
But on a fourth down and 6 yards play, the Patriots, operating out of the Wildcat formation, misfired on a pass intended for quarterback Eric Laurent down the right sideline.
"They (Lindbergh) have a real good defensive front seven and when you get into the red zone against them, you just can't make mistakes," Blevins said.
A 32-yard field goal from Lindbergh kicker Eric Schwartz in the third quarter and another Schwartz field goal from 26 yards in the final 5 minutes of play gave the Flyers just enough room to keep the Patriots at bay.
Then it was the Lindbergh defense's turn to stand tall and the Flyers stop crew, led by senior linebacker Austin Good, did just that, keeping South out of the end zone and out of field goal range throughout the evening.
"Our defense just dug in throughout the night and made the difference," Beauchamp said. "They (South) kept playing hard and our kids didn't quit and found a way to get it done."
In the end, for the Patriots, it was a night of what could have been as South saw a chance for a run at the Suburban West title slip through away.
"I'm proud of the effort the kids gave,” Blevins said. “They played hard but we've just got to learn how to finish drives and get some big plays against good teams."
