Senior quarterback Grant Tustin gave a little talk to his Lincoln-Way West teammates.
It wasn’t bunch of attaboys, that’s for sure. Tustin calmly voiced his displeasure Friday night about what he had seen — and wanted his peers to know that they needed to be better.
Senior wide receiver/defensive back Chase Markowicz appreciated the candor, pointing out that’s what makes Tustin such a good leader.
“He tells us the truth,” Markowicz said. “If we (stink), he’s going to tell us we (stink).”
Tustin, for one, felt the Warriors needed to play better despite posting a 17-7 victory over visiting Andrew in a Southwest Valley Red opener in New Lenox.
“Sometimes you have to be a little honest with the guys,” he said. “We played the game we didn’t want to play. It was really subpar for us. We cannot regress. Regressing is absolutely detrimental to a football team. We had homecoming, excuses, distractions and stuff like that.
“But I’m not OK with excuses. I don’t think anybody on this team is.”
Even so, Lincoln-Way West (3-0, 1-0) remained unbeaten as Markowicz, an Illinois State recruit, ran a punt back 48 yards for a touchdown for the only score in the first half.
South Dakota commit Jahan Abubakar then scored on a 25-yard run in the third quarter and Zach Hermanson kicked a 20-yard field goal in the fourth. Luke Gouty picked off a pass and Nick Elstner recovered a fumble.
Andrew (1-2, 0-1) got on the board with a 1-yard TD run by Jalon Lawrence in the fourth quarter. It was set up by a 17-yard passing connection from Camden Maniatis to Anthony Lipski.
This could have been a trap game for the Warriors, who sweated out a 21-17 win in Week 2 over Lockport as Abubakar scored with 12 seconds left. They now will play host to Lincoln-Way Central (3-0, 1-0) in a Week 4 crosstown rivalry game that has an intensity all its own,.
“We addressed that at the beginning of the week,” Tustin said. “Our coaches told us this is when teams get upset. You come off a big win and have a big game a week after.
“Team can get unfocused a little bit. But that is not OK.”
Yards were hard to come by for both teams Friday, especially in the first half. But Tustin made big plays in the second half, ending up with 101 yards passing. He added 56 yards on six carries.
“No one had big stats,” Lincoln-Way West coach Luke Lokanc said. “It was one of those games you expect when you play a triple-option team like Andrew.
“But Grant’s been doing well all season long. He’s progressing well. He can run when he needs to and he has a great arm. He runs the offense really well.”
Tustin credits his father, Rick — who was a baseball player, football player and swimmer at Bremen and then played football and swam at North Central College — for his success.
“He had a chance to play football at Colorado State but he chose to stay here,” Grant said. “He’s my whole life. He’s very into football, and I played flag football when I was 6.
“When I was 7, I played tackle football and have been a quarterback ever since then.”
It’s the first varsity season for the 6-foot-4, 205-pound Tustin, who’s just starting to get film together. Still, he’s surprised Upper Iowa is looking at him at quarterback instead of as an athlete.
“I’m kind of shocked people are looking at me as a quarterback,” he said. “I don’t have a ton of passes. I’m not complaining because I just want to win football games and I don’t mind my stats.
“But I’m glad people are interested in me as a quarterback.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.