Lemont Dominates in Season Opener

LEMONT - Looking at the scoreboard, the Lemont Indians dominated Chicago Little Village 54-0 in the opener of the high school football season Friday night in Lemont.

But the Indians didn't do anything fancy. They just went out, played hard and did their jobs.

"We always play hard and respect every team we play," Lemont starting linebacker Kyle Krull said.

Mike Anzalone (6 carries, 78 yards) scored the first two touchdowns on runs of 10 and 8 yards to open the scoring in the first quarter.

"It definitely feels good to be back out here, finally a senior, it is awesome" Anzalone said. "Back to the old grind, I guess. I have to give credit to my offensive line. They have worked hard all summer. I feel blessed to be in this position, right now."

The starting offensive line Anzalone was referring to was left tackle Ethan Pocic, left guard Travis Layer, center Nick Unfelt, right guard Tim McAuliffe and right tackle Carl Chandra.

Behind that line, the Indians ran the ball 27 times for 238 yards and five touchdowns and passed 6 of 9 times for 107 yards and three scores.

"Our offensive line was great," Lemont starting quarterback Damon Aleman said. "Our defense did great ... stop them like they should. It was the first game of the season and we did not know how it was going to go. We had young players coming back (and they) did well. Nothing really complicated."

Aleman hit Tyler Jay on a 5-yard hitch play and Jay broke it for a 27-yard score. Eric Kirk man added a 1-yard run and Lamar Taylor snared a Zack Brosseau pass for a 13-yard score to cap the first quarter scoring at 34-0 in favor of Lemont.

"I was a little nervous coming in first varsity game and to get off to a good start like that really boosted my confidence," Brosseau said.

Lemont backup quarterback Brosseau was 4 of 6 for 75 yards and two touchdowns. Jay (3 catches, 65 yards) and Brosseau hooked up on a 33-yard pass play and Mitch Balek (6 carries, 86 yards) ran wild on a 31-yard scoring scamper to make the halftime score 47-0.

Jacob Ricks' 3-yard run in the fourth quarter was the final score of the contest.

"We went out there and the kids got experience," Lemont head coach Eric Michaelsen said. "I think we did some things pretty well and the nice thing about it is there are things we can improve on. We have a lot to work on this week and that's what we will do."

Lemont travels to play Riverside-Brookfield for a 7 p.m. contest next Friday.