With a balanced offense led by a powerful back and a dual-threat quarterback combined with an opportunistic defense, No. 22 Lincoln-Way West is built for November football. That\u2019s why the Warriors are in the state quarterfinals for the sixth time since 2012 after surging to a 43-20 Class 7A win over visiting Kenwood on a rainy Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Jahan Abubakar, a sturdy 6-1, 191-pound senior, ran 23 times for 128 yards and two touchdowns for Lincoln-Way West (10-1), which plays at Downers Grove North (9-2) next weekend. Grant Tustin, the Warriors\u2019 6-4, 200-pound quarterback, passed for 139 yards and a TD and also ran for 53 yards and a score.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, West was in bend-don\u2019t-break mode against Kenwood quarterback Kenyonte Louis, who came in with 3,302 total yards and 44 touchdowns. Louis finished with 390 total yards and three scores, but two came after the Warriors had run off 40 straight points to wipe out a 6-3 deficit.<\/p>\n
Abubakar, who missed time earlier in the season with an ankle injury, got a heads-up from his coaches to expect a heavy workload Saturday. \u201cThey said they were gonna anchor off me and the game was in my hands,\u201d Abubakar said. \u201cAnd I took accountability made sure that we got the \u2018dub.\u2019\u201d \u201cJahan started off hot, then we held him out for a couple weeks,\u201d Warriors coach Luke Lokanc said. \u201cIn the last couple of weeks, he\u2019s been 100%. He got healthy at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he gave Lincoln-Way West another potent option to go along with Tustin, whose 10-yard TD pass to Ethan Swanson gave the Warriors a 10-6 lead at 11:20 of the second quarter. That was still the score until West got two touchdowns in the last 11 seconds of the first half to go up 24-6. First Abubakar powered over from a yard out, then Jimmy Talley Jr. picked off Louis and ran it back 25 yards for a TD as time expired.<\/p>\n
Talley knew the Warriors had to account for Louis\u2019 dual-threat capability. \u201cWe were trying to [have a] balance \u2014 not letting them get yards on the pass, but also spying on the quarterback to make sure he doesn\u2019t scramble and get a bunch of yards,\u201d Talley said. \u201cIt\u2019s a hard balance. He\u2019s a good player. We just ended up doing our job well.\u201d<\/p>\n
There weren\u2019t any fancy wrinkles, according to Lokanc. \u201cThis one doesn\u2019t come down to scheme,\u201d he said. \u201cIt comes back to the 37 seniors we have and the leadership they\u2019ve shown throughout this whole season.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Warriors kept adding to the lead in the third quarter with a safety on a bad punt snap, Zach Hermanson\u2019s second field goal and Tustin\u2019s 23-yard TD run. Abubakar\u2019s second TD run, a five-yarder at 8:30 of the fourth quarter, made it 43-6.<\/p>\n
Now the Warriors get a rematch with Downers Grove North, who beat them 34-6 in the 2023 quarterfinals. West lost in the second round last season to Batavia and has advanced past the quarterfinals just once, winning the 5A title in 2015. \u201cDefinitely a chip on our shoulder,\u201d Abubakar said. \u201cWe remembered last year and just had to capitalize on everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kenwood (9-2) had a nine-game winning streak snapped and will drop back into the Public League playoffs next week. The Broncos were hurt by penalties (15 for 94 yards) and two turnovers. Louis ran 35 yards for a TD and threw an 84-yard scoring strike to Lawrence Carr to end West\u2019s 40-0 scoring run. \u201cIt\u2019s tough,\u201d Kenwood coach Chris Goffer said. \u201cIn the playoffs, you can\u2019t make mistakes, can\u2019t turn over the ball. \u201cI\u2019m trying to put this as good as possible. I don\u2019t want any handouts, but I\u2019d also like to see an evenly called game, simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lincoln-Way West’s victory over Kenwood showcases their strength and resilience, particularly with the performances of Jahan Abubakar and Grant Tustin. Their balanced offense and opportunistic defense make them a formidable opponent in the state quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
A: Jahan Abubakar and Grant Tustin were the key players, with Abubakar running for 128 yards and two touchdowns, and Tustin passing for 139 yards and a TD and running for 53 yards and a score.<\/p>\n
A: The final score was 43-20 in favor of Lincoln-Way West.<\/p>\n
A: Lincoln-Way West will play at Downers Grove North (9-2) next weekend in the state quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
A: Kenwood had a 9-1 record going into the game and was on a nine-game winning streak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lincoln-Way West’s Balanced Offense Leads to Victory Introduction to the Game With a balanced offense led by a powerful back and a dual-threat quarterback combined with an opportunistic defense, No. 22 Lincoln-Way West is built for November football. That\u2019s why the Warriors are in the state quarterfinals for the sixth time since 2012 after surging […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31791","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/3fe9ea4\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2000x1142+0+0\/resize\/1461x834!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fea%2F92%2F27f320b04514a00d09fe46c34ed4%2Fmc-cst-110925-7004.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31791"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31793,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31791\/revisions\/31793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}