Just three months ago, Maine West senior Maksym Makota was a state sprinting qualifier in boys track and field,
On Friday night, Makota and the Maine West football team sprinted out of the 2024 starting gate with a 14-7 victory over visiting Elk Grove for a 10th straight regular-season win over the past two seasons.
Makota, who grew up playing youth soccer but switched to football when he entered high school, rushed for 110 yards (24 carries), one touchdown and a two-point conversion run to help the Warriors rally from a 7-0 halftime deficit.
“We went into halftime and said ‘OK, we are the better team and we have to keep playing our hearts out,” said Makota, who rushed for some 200 yards with 3 touchdowns against Vernon Hills in his only start as a junior. “And that’s what we did. Honestly, I’ve got to give credit to all my teammates. They were blocking for me the whole game and we just kept running right at them and we never lost composure. The line (Lucas Burkett, Erik Zotoiu, Marcel Debski, Brody Kroschel and Lucas Masek) did an amazing job”
Elk Grove senior Dylan Berkowitz powered up the middle for a 76-yard TD run with 3:32 left in the first half and Dimitar Pendev’s extra point made it 7-0.
But that would be the only points given up by the stingy Maine West defense which received a big combined sack from Masek and Alec Hornish late in game. That helped seal the deal on the Grens’ final drive that ended at the Warriors 37-yard line when Northern Illinois-bound Dante Hicks broke up a pass on fourth-and-11 with 1:49 left.
“Coach (Anthony) Zitzka is a very good coach,” said EG second-year coach Danny O’Donnell. “I’ve been coaching against him for a long time and I knew they were going to be reading the keys and flying around. We were able to hit them one time with the big run by Dylan. He’s a heck of a runner for us.”
West got off to a running start in the second half, taking the kickoff and marching 63 yards into the end zone, capped by senior QB Tely Litas’ 20-yard TD pass in the middle of the field to Frank Adcock. Makota’s 2-point run gave West the lead for good at 8-7 lead with 8:51 left.
The Warriors made it 14-7 with 6:47 left in the game when Makota rushed for his team’s final 35 yards of a 46-yard drive, including his 2-yard TD run.
“Maks is a tough kid, a track star and two-way player for us,” said West coach George Klupchak. “He’s been an all-conference safety for us the past two seasons. He was kind of our other option at running back last year and he’s going to be the featured guy this season. He’s exciting because he has breakaway speed, a lot of strength and he’s just very tough.”
In his starting QB debut, Litas was 10-16 for 132 yards, including 2 for 57 yards to Hicks and 2 for 51 yards to Adcock.
“He’s (Litas) calm, cool and collected,” Klupchak said. “He made some big throws and he led the offense in some tough situations. The crowd was loud, the game was tight and he showed his composure moving the ball down field. And that’s tough for any high school kid, much less one making his first varsity start.”
Berkowitz finished with 98 yards rushing for EG and he caught a 6-yard pass from QB Daniel Paterski, who also completed tosses to Daryl Hunt and Ryan Tanner.
“Maine West is a tough program, “O’Donnell added. “They are well coached and disciplined. Their alignments are right and they fight hard. For us, it’s a quality opponent in week one to see where we’re at. Three to five plays determine every game and those three to five just didn’t go our way tonight.”
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Publish date : 2024-08-30 15:53:00
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