Blue Devils throw scare into much bigger Knights

By Tom Williams

williams@vindy.com

LOUISVILLE

The much bigger St. Thomas Aquinas football team had a devil of a time catching up with Lisbon’s small backs.

“They were huge, big guys,” Lisbon quarterback Colin Sweeney said of the Knights. “We’re all little and fast, and it’s hard to see us running through the line.

“We run hard — you can be as big as you want to be, but it’s hard to chase down a kid who’s flying.”

But in the fourth quarter, the Knights wore the Blue Devils down in Friday’s Division VI, Region 21 playoff game.

“They started leaning on us,” Lisbon head coach Jim Tsilimos said.

After Lisbon tied the game with 1:28 remaining, the Knights marched to the Lisbon 1 where Andrew Jenkins booted an 18-yard field goal with one second remaining for a 21-18 victory.

“Our kids, they played their butts off,” Tsilimos said. “We had a couple of injuries and had to put in younger kids, but they did all right. All three phases we were happy with.

“The kids left it out here on the field.”

In the third quarter, the Blue Devils lost lineman Jake Liberati with a knee injury. He eventually returned for a few plays in the fourth quarter. The Blue Devils (9-2) had great field position to start the second half as Dougie Minor returned the kick to the Aquinas 47.

Five plays later, Jason Thompson scored from the 10 to give Lisbon a 12-3 lead (the conversion run failed).

The Knights (9-2) responded with a 11-play, 53-yard drive capped by Nathan Rich’s 1-yard run.

In the fourth quarter, the Knights took the lead 16-12 when Rich escaped for a 37-yard touchdown. Quarterback Jarryd Palek scored on the conversion run for an 18-12 lead with 3:49 remaining.

With their season on the line, Sweeney hit Justin Sweeney for a 59-yard catch-and-run to the Aquinas 17.

With 1:28 to go, Thompson scored from the 1 to tie the game.

Tsilimos had an interesting decision. Logan Bell replaced Justin Sweeney this week as placekicker. Bell’s first attempt was blocked in the second quarter after Colin Sweeney scored on a 45-yard run.

Tsilimos opted to go for two with the score 18-18. Sweeney hit Seth Stokes with a screen pass, but he was forced out of bounds at the Aquinas 1.

“We talked about [kicking], but I wanted the two [points],” Tsilimos said.

Sweeney said: “We took a shot, it didn’t work out. It’s football.”

Although this was a four-five matchup, many felt the Blue Devils were huge underdogs. Tsilimos said he told his players, “If we can get through the first 12 minutes, we’d be all right. And we did.”

The Blue Devils limited the Knights to Jenkins’ 31-yard field goal in the first half.

“We weren’t supposed to do this tonight, we just come up a little bit short,” said Tsilimos, who was asked if he thought the Knights were looking past his team.

“I don’t think their coaches overlooked us,” Tsilimos said. “Maybe their kids did a little bit.”

Sweeney led the Devils with 144 yards on 24 carries.

“We were motivated,” he said. “Did you see the Village behind us, the whole town? Everybody came together.”