The Lincoln-Way West Warriors hosted the Sandburg Eagles on Friday, Sept. 20.
The Warriors ended up losing their home conference game to the Eagles by a score of 28-22.
Prior to this game, the Warriors were 3-1 versus Sandburg all-time. They outscored the Eagles 87-51 in their first four meetings. Sandburg went 6-4 in 2023. They lost 27-7 to Minooka in Round One of IHSA 8A playoffs.
LWW fought a hard battle as Warrior quarterback Chase Hetfleisch gave it everything he had battling huge hits and massive pressure from the Sandburg defense.
Sandburg marched down the field on their very first possession, scoring a touchdown on a 47-yard run. Lincoln Way followed right back with a touchdown of their own courtesy of a 12-yard pass from Hetfleisch to wide receiver Austin Rowswell.
Sandburg continued to move the ball scoring two more touchdowns in the second quarter to give them a 14-10 lead over LWW going into the half.
The Lincoln Way offense had trouble in the 3rd quarter, but the defense remained tough as they only allowed one score.
The 4th quarter was by-far the most dominant time for the Warriors as the defense pressured the Sandburg offense so much they scored on a safety in the endzone. Hetfleisch wasnt done either, as time was winding down, trying to lead his team on a comeback victory, Hetfleisch led his team back down the field and found his favorite target Rowswell again for a 2-yard touchdown pass with no time left on the clock.
It was a hard fought game by the Warriors as they gave it their all for four quarters. Hetfleisch ended the game 21 of 37 for 189 yards and 2 touchdowns. Rowswell caught 7 receptions for 79 yards to go alongside his 2 scores.
Jahan Abubakar, Lincoln’s running back had a solid game on the ground running the ball 20 times for 61 yards. The defense was lead by Josh Veldman and Noah Wendt who combined for 15 tackles on the night.
Lincoln Way West is now 3-1 after the loss and will look forward as they will face The Naperville Central Redhawks this coming Friday at 7:00 pm.
Naperville is the 31st ranked team in all of Illinois and are undefeated with a 4-0 record. The Warriors will hope to give them their first loss of the season.
