Defense attests: Defenders help Basic top Silverado

Much was said and written this season about the quality of the Silverado football team’s defense, and rightfully so.

Turns out Basic has a pretty good defense, too.

The host Wolves limited No. 8 Silverado to 205 total yards, 72 of which came on a late scoring drive after the outcome was all but determined, and pulled off a 21-11 victory on a breezy Friday night to maintain a share of first place in the Southeast League.

“That’s the best defense we’ve played around here in a long, long time,” said Basic’s first-year coach Jeff Cahill, a 1992 graduate of the school and an assistant there since 2002. “Our defense carried us through three quarters and our offense and offensive line stepped up in the fourth. It was a total team victory and nothing could make me prouder than that.”

Charles Phillips led Basic (4-1, 2-0) with 90 yards rushing and quarterback Robby Faiman added 43 yards on the ground. But the play of the game, fittingly, came from the Wolves’ defense.

With Basic clinging to a 7-3 lead early in the third quarter, safety Anthany Lessier stepped in front of Skyhawks quarterback Kyle Simmons’ third-down pass that was intended for tight end Matt Hollen and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown and a 14-3 cushion.

“Earlier in the game I picked (up) on it, but I missed it,” Lessier said. “I saw the quarterback was eyeballing him and I stayed on top of it. When he threw it, I jumped in front and picked it.”

Silverado (2-2 0-2) tried to come back, driving to the Wolves’ 30 late in the third quarter. However, on the first play of the fourth quarter, the Skyhawks fumbled and Basic recovered.

The Wolves then chewed up more than 8 minutes off the clock - the 15-play drive was aided by a roughing-the-passer penalty on a fourth-and-19 from the Silverado 26, before Faiman scored on a 2-yard run for a 21-3 Basic lead with 3:31 remaining in the game.

“Silverado has been the dominant team for a long time on this side,” Cahill said. “This is a game we’ve been targeting as a way to see how good we might be. The kids are very, very excited with the way they played.”

This was the second straight loss for the Skyhawks, who were ranked No. 4 in 4A before last week’s 6-0 loss to Liberty. The Skyhawks put together a strong drive late and got within 21-11 as Simmons hit Trenton Tipton for a 26-yard touchdown with 1:31 remaining before the Wolves recovered the onside kick and took two knees to finish off the win.

Dariouse Gravely finished with 44 yards rushing and Michael Wadsworth added 41 yards for Silverado, which committed three turnovers.

“We’re just not a good football team, there’s no other way to put it,” Silverado coach Andy Ostolaza said. “I think we have a lot of kids who believed into the hype about us. We have to figure out a way to improve or we’re going to let our whole season slip away.”

The Skyhawks took a 3-0 lead on Brandon Romero’s 26-yard field goal midway through the second quarter, but never led again. On Basic’s next possession, Phillips broke three tackles on the way to a 76-yard run — he was tackled from behind at the 1 by Silverado’s Keenan Graham. One play later Anthony Ireland plowed across the goal line to put Basic on top 7-3 at halftime.

“We’ve been talking all week about how we have to come hard each play,” Lessier said. “We stepped up our intensity and played physical. Everybody thinks they can run on us, but we made a couple changes and each week we’re getting more physical.”