Published: November 08, 2009 12:58 am      

Vikings show they belong

OAK LAWN — Danville’s magical football season was down to just 24 minutes.

The Vikings had just played one of their worst halves and Danville was looking a season-ending loss right in the eye as Oak Lawn Richards led 20-10 at halftime.

“We came in the lockerroom silent,’’ Danville senior running back Mario Crosby said. “Coach gave us a look and he gave us a speech.’’

Danville coach B.J. Luke reminded his team that the only ones they were disappointing were themselves as the Vikings trailed the Bulldogs.

“We acted like we weren’t sure if we belonged here,’’ Luke said. “I told the kids that they belong anywhere they want to be.

“You are a kid from Danville and you don’t have to take a backseat to anyone. We came out and embarrassed ourselves in the first half.’’

The Vikings, led by an inspiring overflow crowd of supporters, scored 20 unanswered points in the second half to pull out a 30-20 victory over the Bulldogs at Korhonen Field in a Class 6A second-round playoff game.

“Coach yelled at us and reminded us that we came here for a reason,’’ Danville senior offensive lineman Alex Janssen said. “Coach reminded us that we were meant to be here and we were meant to move on.’’

That was definitely their attitude in the second half.

Danville (11-0) marched the ball down the field on three straight possessions to start the second half, turning its 10-point deficit into a 10-point lead.

“For the most part, in that first half, I thought we did a very good job of containing them,’’ Richards coach Tony Sheehan said. “In the second half, they just came out and took it to another level.

“We didn’t play very well in the second half, and that kind of cost us.’’

The Bulldogs, who end their season at 8-2, managed just 61 yards of offense and just four first downs in the second half after racking up 194 yards and 12 first downs in the opening 24 minutes.

“We came out on our heels,’’ Danville junior linebacker Justin March said. “And coach told us that we were not disappointing anybody but us — ourselves.

“He told us to turn it up or we were going to go home and this was going to be our last game. We were not ready for it to end.’’

Richards quarterback Jon Ryan had 168 yards of total offense, two passing touchdowns and a run of 11 yards for another score in the first two quarters.

“We didn’t have our minds focused, so we came out like chickens with our heads cut off,’’ Danville senior defensive back MykeTez Forman said. “We had to get our focus back and we had to remember that we came up here to win.’’

Ryan, who is a Division I baseball prospect, had just 45 yards of offense in the second half as he connected on just 3-of-8 passes.

“We got aggressive and we started playing like the real Meat House defense,’’ saidMarch of the unit that entered Saturday’s game allowing just 6.4 points per game.

While the efforts of the defense played a big factor in the victory, Danville’s turnaround started with its offensive line.

The Vikings took the second half kickoff and marched 71 yards on 12 plays with March capping it with the first of his two touchdown runs.

“We knew that we had to step it up on the offensive line,’’ Janssen said.

One of the biggest plays on the drive was a fourth-and-1 conversion at the Bulldogs 32 when Crosby gained 2 yards on a quarterback sneak.

The same play that resulted in no yards a year ago in a playoff loss (7-0) to Normal Community.

“Our motto all year has been to finish,’’ Crosby said. “Our line did an outstanding job in this game. I think they should get all the credit for our yards tonight and they should get all of the awards.’’

All that group of linemen did on Saturday night was lead the Vikings to 433 yards of total offense with 339 of those coming on the ground.

Danville’s three-headed running back position of Crosby, March and Eddie Clark combined for 274 yards and quarterback Malcolm Anderson had 67 rushing to go along with 94 passing and two scores.

“That is a credit to our line, our tough run backs and Malcolm handling things very nicely,’’ Luke said. “We are a pretty good offensive team, but I keep hearing from Champaign that we are not very good offensively.

“We don’t have a 1,000-yard rusher, but we probably have the three best run backs in the conference.’’

They are also the only three running backs in the Big 12 Conference getting ready for a quarterfinal playoff game as Normal Community lost on Saturday to Crete-Monee 35-10.

Danville will play Lemont, a 49-26 winner over Chicago Morgan Park, next Saturday at Ned Whitesell Field.

An official start time will not be finalized until Monday.