No stars, no problem: Lincoln-Way East hands Homewood-Flossmoor first loss of season

Lincoln-Way East is a giant of Illinois high school football. Coach Rob Zvonar has built one of the elite programs in the state during the last 25 years. Recently, the Griffins have featured some of the most talented players in school history.

But that isn’t the case this season. Zvonar jokingly refers to his team as ‘‘the kids that were left over at the playground.’’

Lincoln-Way East surprised everyone with a victory against Brother Rice in Week 1. Then the Griffins went to Kankakee and won in Week 2.

There was another test Friday in Flossmoor. The host Vikings hadn’t allowed a point in the first two games of the season.

But No. 3 Lincoln-Way East took care of business again, knocking off No. 10 Homewood-Flossmoor 38-7 with a dominant all-around performance.

‘‘Personally, I don’t think there should have been lower expectations,’’ Griffins junior linebacker Ryan Manzke said. ‘‘We came out and beat Brother Rice because this team is a brotherhood. That is how we did it.’’

Manzke grabbed an interception and returned it eight yards for a touchdown in the third quarter to put Lincoln-Way East ahead 31-0.

‘‘I was staying in my zone,’’ Manzke said. ‘‘Hands went up. Ball went up. Bang! I was right there for the touchdown.’’

It was a humid, steamy night, and the slick ball and sweaty bodies led to multiple fumbles by both teams and more than a dozen instances of helmets popping off.

But nothing fazed the Griffins (3-0).

‘‘They really enjoy playing hard-nosed football on Friday nights,’’ Zvonar said. ‘‘They came out here and kind of controlled the game from start to finish . . . so that was impressive.’’

Lincoln-Way East senior Aidan Cavanaugh had 20 carries for 45 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Evan LeFevour was 9-for-20 for 122 yards with one interception. He connected with Landon Martinez on an 18-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.

‘‘We have been working our butts off since January,’’ Griffins junior Ryan Harris said. ‘‘We kept our heads down and didn’t listen to anyone else. We knew what we could do.’’

Many successful high school programs across the state reload each year and win without college-bound players and big-name stars. But that is much harder to do in Class 8A.

‘‘This has been very rewarding,’’ Zvonar said. ‘‘I wasn’t sure it was going to go this way in Week 1. And I wasn’t sure how it was going to go tonight. A little bit of the success is culture and tradition.’’

The Vikings (2-1) scored on a nine-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Karter Nicholson to Xavier Pratt in the fourth quarter.

‘‘Our defense has been playing pretty well, but our offense and our special teams put our defense in some really bad spots tonight,’’ H-F coach Troy McAllister said. ‘‘We were stout at times early. But when it is short fields, a team like East is going to get points.’’

The Vikings opened the season unranked, then took down highly regarded Bolingbrook 31-0 in Week 1 and Richards 35-0 in Week 2.

‘‘We had a couple of nice wins, but when you watch the film, you don’t feel great,’’ McAllister said. ‘‘We knew we were going to have moments this season with the ebbs and flows of high school football. Who we are right now is an inconsistent team.’’