Journal & Topics Media Group

Eagles Top Proviso West 27-0 Despite Flag Deluge


Gus Tosterud (5) finds a big hole up the middle against Proviso West on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. (Photo by Peter Skylakos)

Junior running-back Diego Mendoza exploded for 135 yards rushing and three touchdowns to lead Leyden’s football team to its first win of the season, a 27-0 whitewashing of the Proviso West Panthers last Friday on the road in Hillside.

The Eagles scored once in each quarter and overcame what might be a “world record” for the most penalties ever inflicted in a single game, getting flagged 21 times for 165 yards in losses. Leyden played without the services of veteran quarterback Leo Latiker, injured last week, but sophomore replacement James Falco handled the job with great maturity and even passed for the first touchdown.

A surprisingly strong Leyden defense stifled the Panthers on nearly every turn with the ball, racking up six sacks against Proviso quarterback Deon Jones, Eagles defender Chris Swiatek sharing four of them, and intercepting four of his 18 passes, two grabbed by deep defender Damian Salazar, and recovering two of PWs four fumbles. For the game, coach Mike Anderson’s defensive unit allowed West only 10 yards rushing (after deducting the 31 yards lost on the sacks) and allowed them to catch just four of their own passes for only 35 aerial yards.

The Panthers made only one rushing and one passing first down for the whole game (but got five first downs from Leyden penalties), and were further frustrated when Eagles’ kicker Julius Sanchez had all three of his punts downed for no return and his five kickoffs were returned for an average of less than 10-yards each.

Once again, the Eagles dominated the game clock, holding possession for 32 minutes to just 15 for Proviso and running 60 offensive plays to 44 for West. That was demonstrated early in the first quarter when head coach Tom Cerasani’s offense had two 7-play drives but were forced to give up the ball on downs, the Panthers running three plays in between, getting a first down on 15-yard penalty, and then fumbling it back to Leyden, all in just 35 seconds. Proviso then followed with its only sustained drive of the game, gaining three first downs (1 rush, 1 pass, 1 penalty) before being forced to punt at the Leyden 48-yard line. They never earned another first down in the game.

Gus Tosterud then turned the game in Leyden’s favor when he returned that punt 36 yards to the PW 16. On fourth down, Falco’s pass found Mario Reyes on the way to a 15-yard touchdown with just 21 seconds left in the first period. The snap on the PAT kick try went awry but the Eagles had their first TD of the season and a 6-0 lead.

Midway in the second session, it was Mendoza’s turn to take over with runs of 15, 5 and a 30-yard touchdown dash covering the needed 50 yards, Sanchez’s PAT kick making the score 13-0 at 7:20. In the final seconds of the half, Falco’s lone mistake, an interception carried back to the Leyden 35, was survived by Salazar’s great pass defense in the end zone as time ran out.

To open the second half, the two teams traded possessions before a Sanchez punt went out at the PW35. On the first Proviso play, Tosterud deflected a Deon Jones pass at the line of scrimmage line, allowing Mendoza (playing defense?) to intercept it at the Panthers’ 46. From there, Tosterud came in to take direct snaps as quarterback, charging up the middle four times for 23 total yards before Falco returned to hand off to Mendoza for a 13-yard touchdown run. Sanchez’s PAT kick made the count 20-0 at 3:04 of the third.

Leyden’s final score came when Salazar opened the fourth frame with a Jones interception on the Leyden 15-yard line. From there, Falco directed a 9-play, 85-yard march that overcame three Leyden penalties, Mendoza doing the bulk of the work with six runs totaling 49 of the yards, including a closing 2-yard TD plunge. Falco completed two passes, the first a 36-yard toss to #33 not on the roster. Sanchez kicked the extra point for the final 27-0 score with 7:11 left to play in the game. The defense then used two more interceptions of Jones’ tosses to put down the Panthers.

While several of the myriad of penalties called against Leyden may have been questionable, and the referees were certainly a bit zealous in their yellow flag tossing, most of the calls were caused by carelessness on the part of the Eagles. The final count showed the refs meting out five 15-yard infractions, two 10-yarders with the remaining 14 calls being of the procedural 5-yard variety. The Stripes guys also called eight penalties on Proviso (four 15’s and a 10). The Eagles gained 158 total yards rushing and added 126 more on passes, Falco completing 9 of 19 tosses.

The Eagles will be back at home in Northlake this Friday when they take on Hinsdale South in the first West Suburban Gold league game in two years. The Eagles have played the Hornets 55 times, a game in every season beginning in 1966, with a record of 26 wins and 29 losses. However, they have won three of the last five, and hopes for a Friday win might be buoyed slightly by the fact that the Hornets have started the season with losses of 48-7 to Oak Park and 39-16 to Deerfield.

Diego Mendoza (23) starts touchdown run against Proviso West on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. (Photo by Peter Skylakos)

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