Indians Battle Bremen for First Place

’s Indians and Bremen’s Braves — after five games these two South Suburban Blue Conference varsity high school football teams are unbeaten and will meet with first place on the line in a 7 p.m. Friday contest at Bremen High School in Midlothian.

Last week:  (5-0, 2-0) comes off an impressive 49-20 homecoming win over previous unbeaten Tinley Park, while Bremen (5-0, 3-0) took down Thornton Fractional South, 21-8.

Indians coach Eric Michaelsen said the emotional state of his team is fine after beating Tinley Park and they are hard at work preparing for Friday’s game.

“Tinley Park has an excellent offensive scheme,” Michaelsen said. “To beat them was a big win. But they are all big from here on out. I am proud of our players’ ability to focus on the upcoming opponent. Our coaches do a nice job of keeping the players focused on the task at hand.”

“I expect to see two teams that have a tremendous amount of respect for each other, slug it out for four quarters,” Bremen coach Dan Stell said. “ is a first-class program, and we look forward to hosting them at our place on Friday night. We are treating this like a playoff game. We want our kids to play loose and have fun.

"Our kids are very excited this week. Our seniors realize this is the last time they will have an opportunity to hand only its third conference loss in over six years of competing against teams in our conference. Our coaching staff has worked extremely hard putting together a game plan that will put us in a position to make plays on all three sides of the ball.”

 will face Bremen’s run/play-action pass-oriented offense, which has averaged 30.8 points a game.

“David Smith is a Division I running back,” Michaelsen said. “Their quarterback (Cedric Clemons) does a nice job running their offense. Their skill kids are very good and their offensive line gets after you. They have big-play capability at all times. Defensively, they are as good as we have seen. They are physical and fly to the ball. Special teams are also the best we have seen. They have blocked numerous field goals and extra points. Last week, they turned it into a touchdown. Walter Hill, Damon Hunt, Brandon Ochoa, Jerron Bell, Josiah Cole and Dylan Howe are excellent players, as well.”

Smith (6-foot-1, 200 pounds) leads the team in rushing with 465 yards on 68 carries with six touchdowns. Devonte Wilson is second on the list with 214 yards on 31 carries and two scores. Clemons has thrown for 356 yards, completing 20 of 38 attempts for three touchdowns and three interceptions. Deshon Grissom is the leading receiver with 10 catches for 115 yards. Smith has four catches for 90 yards and two scores.

“Our special teams coordinator Josh Oshea does a tremendous job with our special teams,” Stell said. ”Thanks to him, our kids understand the importance of perfection on special teams, and how they can determine the outcome of a game.” 

Stell said his key players on special teams are Dontau Dodson (punter), Noel Sanders (kicker) and Ochoa (long snapper).

The Indians “are very physical up front,” Stell said. “We need to take advantage of our speed, stick to our game plan and take care of the football. is extremely balanced in all facets of the game. They have the best defense that we have seen thus far. We need to execute and play fast, if we expect to win this game.”

“Our defense played well last week,” Michaelsen said. “We made a few mistakes that led to some big plays and (we) need to keep improving on our tackling, but overall they did well. We need to keep working.”

 senior linebacker Kyle Krull led the defense with 10 solo tackles and five assists. Indians senior linebacker Vince Letizia had three solos and five assists, including a sack for a loss of six yards, and senior defensive lineman John Tomala had five solo tackles, one assist and a fumble recovery.

Offensively, the Indians didn’t use just one running back to run down Tinley Park last Friday. They used three. Leading Indians running back Mike Anzalone (13 carries, 85 yards, one touchdown) was not the leading rusher against Tinley Park, Christos Giatras (19 carries, 154 yards, two touchdowns, two catches, 76 yards) was. Eric Kirkman had 10 carries for 92 yards and had a touchdown catch for 20 yards.

“We have a nice set of backs and will continue to use them all,” Michaelsen said. Giatras and Kirkman “work hard and are improving. They have been great additions to our offense.”

 quarterback Damon Aleman completed 8 of 11 passes for 180 yards and three scores. Tyler Jay (five catches, 84 yards) caught two passes for scores.

Stell hopes his Braves can counter what ’s offense is doing, “by knowing our responsibilities, playing together and playing physical.”

On defense, Stell counts on Ochoa (middle linebacker), Taiyon Jones (nose tackle), Hill (safety), Darrion Hunt (outside linebacker) and Grissom (safety) as his leaders on defense.

Michaelsen knows his team has to improve on not taking penalties, feeling his team is still taking way too many.

“We need to play well and limit our mistakes,” Michaelsen said. “Turnovers are always huge. Bremen seems to always take advantage, so we need to protect the ball.”