ELMHURST – It’s been a long time coming.
Behind the tenacious running of Danny Carroll and a flawless defensive effort, Lyons captured its first outright West Suburban Silver conference title since 1987 with a 24-7 win over York Friday in Elmhurst.
[ Photo store: Lyons vs. York football ]
In keeping their undefeated season intact, the Lions (8-0, 6-0) also exacted a bit of revenge on the Dukes (6-2, 3-2), who beat them twice a season ago, including a 17-14 decision in the second round of the playoffs.
“Ever since last year when they beat us twice,” said Carroll, a high-level hockey player who didn’t come out for football as a sophomore, “we were in the weight room every single day in the offseason. And we made sure that everyone was there. Everyone was working hard and everyone was doing their job and that’s how you can end up being an undefeated team.”
Carroll ran for 159 yards on 31 carries while scoring three touchdowns. A three-yarder gave the Lions a 10-0 lead at halftime and he added scores of four and 14-yards in the fourth quarter.
“All of these guys have been together since day one,” Carroll said. “It’s special to be a part of this group. Everybody is out there working on every single play. We want it more than everyone else.”
The defense did the rest, forcing three turnovers, including an interception and fumble recovery by Joshua Gutierrez. Lyons held York to just 154 yards of total offense, 55 of which came on the home team’s final drive that ended on a pick by Lyons’ defensive back Travis Stamm. Cooper Komsthoeft and Ayman Soltan contributed sacks.
“It is really our coaches,” Gutierrez said. “We have such a great defensive coordinator (Bryan Bergman). He puts us in the perfect spots every game. And then you just have to make the plays where they are, it’s nothing special.
“This is a testament to how much work we have all put in. Twenty-one weeks in the offseason, 5:30 or 6 a.m. every day, we’d always be there. This is a family. A lot of this group has been together since the fourth grade and we always thought we could do this. Maybe this is a surprise to others but we knew we were capable. The sky is the limit for this team. And obviously beating York after last year makes this extra special.”
AJ Vavrik also kicked a 31-yard field goal for the Lions, who wrap up the regular season with a crossover contest against Proviso East. The last time a Lyons team was 9-0 was 1943 (according to the IHSA website).
Dom Pisciotti threw for 131 yards and Mack Long caught six balls for 62 yards.
“On Nov. 6, 2023 we turned in our gear,” said Lyons coach Jon Beutjer, whose program last shared the conference championship in 2010, “and the juniors took everyone in a room and said we are going to do something special. They worked for 21 weeks in the offseason and seven weeks in the summer. This is a special group, they grew up together, they are really close, they play together. And they are resilient, they don’t get rattled.
“It’s not about rankings or anything like that. It’s about accomplishing something they set out to do.”
The Dukes’ lone touchdown came on a 49-yard interception return from Jimmy Conners on the opening possession of the second half. Quarterback Bruno Massel threw for 112 yards and ran for 38 more.
“That’s a good football team,” said York coach Don Gelsomino, whose team shared the conference championship a year ago. “They played well. We made some mistakes, gave them short fields. Sometimes it is a game of little things and they did the little things and we didn’t. But we will get that fixed.
“They are undefeated in the conference and obviously won the title tonight. Finishing undefeated in the Silver, that’s really hard to do. When you do that, you are playing really good football.”