The York football team did a lot right in its Week 2 matchup in La Grange Park against Nazareth Academy.
But as Dukes coach Don Gelsomino pointed out, the little mistakes York made in the game against a team tied for fourth in the most recent Class 6A state rankings, made a difference.
York, ranked No. 8 in the state in Class 8A heading into the contest, dropped a 27-3 non-conference game to Nazareth Academy and sits at 1-1 heading into its conference opener on Friday.
“We were battling with them for a while and we had a turnover in the third quarter and then they took over,” Gelsomino said. “Nazareth is definitely good. They are a little banged up. When they get fully healthy, they will be a dangerous team down the road. We had the fight in us. We had to learn a little about ourselves and had to keep playing through some things. I liked how our defense played most of the game. We played physical. When you watch the film, we made a couple little mistakes and a couple little mistakes against a team like Naz, you will lose. They will hit you and make you pay. We made a lot of good plays, but didn’t come away with it in the end.”
Nazareth (1-1), which lost to IC Catholic Prep in Week 1, led 10-3 at halftime. York held Nazareth to a field goal coming out of intermission. York got the ball back, but fumbled deep in its territory inside the 20 and Nazareth subsequently scored.
“We couldn’t get the ball in the endzone,” Gelsomino said. “We had some long drives, but we had two turnovers and got stopped on fourth down three times. That’s not a recipe for winning some football games.”
York was outgained only 256 to 224 in the total yards department. The Dukes also had more first downs (16) than Nazareth (13). Nazareth had one turnover and converted its only fourth-down attempt.
Gelsomino said Tommy Hosler (10 tackles, 6 solos) again played well on defense, as did Matt Young at free safety. Young had nine tackles and an interception. “Matt Young had a nice game,” the coach said.
Senior defensive back Caden Bialecki added five tackles, while senior Owen Roberts had two quarterback hurries and one tackle for loss and junior Michael Pfleeger also had one tackle for loss.
On offense, Anthony Massel caught seven passes for 42 yards, while Chris Georgas carried the ball 17 times for 83 yards. Gelsomino also was impressed with the efforts of two-way player Brayden Byford, who had three tackles on defense.
“Brayden was playing defense and helping lead the offensive line,” Gelsomino said. “He did a nice job on both sides, for sure.”
York opens West Suburban Conference Silver Division play Friday in Hillside against Proviso West.
“We’re back into the conference and it will be a tough grind and it normally is,” Gelsomino said. “After these first two games, we’re battle tested now and we know what we need to do to get better at. We need to have great weeks of practices to get ready for a run here.”
