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Matthew Harris powers Lyons Township with four touchdowns
Downers Grove, 08/31/12--Lyons Township High School's QB Zachary Mahoney takes off upfield on a quarterback keeper. Downers Grove South High School hosted Lyons Township High School in football Friday nighrt. | Jon Langham~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: September 4, 2012 11:16AM
DOWNERS GROVE — Matthew Harris showed why he is set to play in the Big Ten next year.
Lyons Township’s star receiver scored three receiving touchdowns and punctuated his showcase performance with a 38-yard punt return touchdown as the visiting Lions thrashed Downers South 38-7 Friday night in a West Suburban crossover game.
Most impressively, Harris did his damage despite only touching the ball nine times. He made all three of his receptions matter. The Northwestern-bound receiver caught scoring passes of six, one and 20 yards from Lyons Township quarterback Zachary Mahoney (7-10, 77 yards, 3 touchdowns).
“I’m just honored to have a great quarterback like Zachary,” Harris said. “He played like a Division I quarterback tonight.”
Mahoney returned the compliment. “I’m glad (Harris) is on my team,” he said. “All of our receivers are very skilled. I just put the ball out there and they did the rest.”
Harris’ first two scores propelled the Lions (1-1) to a 14-0 advantage after the first quarter. In the second quarter, Downers South (1-1) countered as Mike Zebold bolted 52 yards around the right end.
That proved to be the Mustangs’ lone highlight.
Lyons Township running back Trevon Woods responded with a 34-yard burst. Harris and the Lyons Township special teams turned the game into a rout as Patrick Kelley’s blocked punt keyed Jake Elliott’s 23-yard field goal.
Harris also gained 70 yards on four flanker reverses. He ended the night with the punt return touchdown with just over a minute remaining in the first half that closed off the scoring.
He remained humble about his performance.
“On the punt return, I had a lot of trust with my teammates,“ he said. “I’m not really concerned about myself as an individual. I just wanted to put the (win) under our belts.“
Lyons Township registered three turnovers and the blocked punt.
“It wasn’t just Harris that hurt us,” Downers South coach John Belskis said. “They had a lot of people play well and we didn’t, and that was the difference.”
