Tailback Angel Maldonado rushed 41 times for 287 yards, both new Leyden (East Leyden) one-game records, as Leyden rolled over Morton 33-14 last Friday for its second West Suburban Gold victory in three tries and a 3-2 season record. Maldonado scored four of the Eagles’ five touchdowns, but lost another when he fumbled at the Morton one-yard line and had a sixth TD negated when his 22-yard dash in the fourth quarter was wiped out by a Leyden holding penalty. Still, like the week earlier, the Eagles weren’t ready to play defense when the game opened, trailing 14-13 in the opening seconds of the second period.

While the Morton homecoming game was played in a constant mist at their Berwyn West campus, the two teams avoided any of the heavy rains that fell throughout the Chicago area. The Eagles received the opening kickoff, which was run back 34 yards by Adrian Ruiz, subbing for injured returner and scat-back Matt Aguilar. The Mustangs dug the hole deeper with an offside penalty, setting up Leyden on the Morton 48. Maldonado carried five times for 36 yards total to the Morton 12 before quarterback David Rose made eight yards on a rare keeper. The burly Eagles tailback then bolted over for the 4-yard score and Ivan Momchilov kicked the extra point at 8:51.

Momchilov’s kickoff was returned to the Morton 30 and on the first play Morton QB Carlos Vargas bolted 70 yards when no Eagles covered the right side of the field. Brian Hernandez toed that point and it was suddenly tied at 7-all at 8:34 of the first. Starting over, Ruiz took the next kickoff back 18 yards to the Leyden 27 from where Maldonado and Rose began a 13-play, 73-yard march. Maldonado charged for 6, 6 and 5 yards before a Rose backwards flat pass to Ruiz picked up four yards that was recorded as a run. Aiming straight down the field on the next shot, Rose hit a leaping Adam Bielech for a 33-yard gain to Morton’s 19, before Maldonado pounded again for 4, 3, 5 and 5. A 5-yard penalty set the Eagles back to Morton’s 7, Maldonado made the three and Rose needed two QB sneaks to reach pay dirt. Momchilov had a rare miss on a clean kick for the PAT to leave it 13-7 with 2:00 still left in the opening session.

In another demonstration of poor tackling, the Leyden defense let the Mustangs return Momchilov’s kickoff 50 yards to the Leyden 41 where he finally made the tackle himself. It only took six plays, with Terrell Scott tying the score from five yards on the second play of the second period. Hernandez’s kick gave Morton a short-lived 14-13 lead at 11:11. Another 18-yard Ruiz kickoff return ended at the Leyden 22 from where Rose took to the air on this 78-yard march, hitting Marco Vasquez twice for 4 and 19 yard gains. Maldonado toted twice for 13 yards total to a first down at the Morton 42, Rose connected again with Bielech to the 38, Maldonado ripped off 10 yards and Rose found Ruiz at Mustang 19. Maldonado bolted 10 yards again and then dragged Morton defenders for a 9-yard TD. A Rose-to-Ruiz pass for a 2-point conversion made it 21-14 at 6:44.

It began to look like the last team with the ball would win when Morton’s Frido Rivas returned the kickoff 25 yards to the Morton 36 and Vargas slashed for nine yards on the first play. But a handoff bobble between Vargas and Rivas was corralled by Leyden’s Terry White on the Morton 47. Rose struck quickly with a bullet to Bielech for 23 yards to the Mustangs 24 and Maldonado then ripped off gains of 9, 5, 5 and 5, the last for the TD to make it 27-14 with 3:28 to play before halftime. A high snap on the PAT forced holder Victor Fuentes to try passing but Jeff Cascella dropped a sure two points. The Eagles still were having trouble containing Morton’s varied offense, even after an opening Jake Holtman 9-yard sack of Vargas back to the 25-yard line. Two dashes by Jeremy Keys made a first down at midfield before he made two yards and then got stuck for a six-yard loss. Cascella then really drilled Vargas but he got off a wobbly pass deflected to Tyshaun Eaton for 44 yards to the Leyden 12. Scott made a yard but Diego Moreno grabbed a Mustang fumble at the Leyden 10 on the next play, averting a disaster with 0:40 before the intermission. Maldonado’s 26-yard dash on the first play was erased by a holding call but he then ran for 12, 11 and 18 yards in between Rose’s spikes to stop the clock, ending with 185 yards rushing in the first half.

To open the second half, Morton coughed up the ball a third time with Holtman recovering at the Mustang 35. Another holding call on the Eagles wiped out Maldonado’s 11-yard run but he got that all back with a 24-yard sweep on the next play. He picked up another first down with 12 yards and then slashed nine yards to the Morton one before the ball was stripped at the goal line. The Mustangs then drove 79 yards to the Leyden 20 before the Eagles finally took over on downs at their 10 after a dead-ball-foul penalty. Rose then engineered the final score with a 90-yard march featuring eight carries by Maldonado intermixed with 14 and 22 yard completions to Bielech. Maldonado punched over from the seven at 6:13 of the last quarter to make it 33-14 but the usually sticky-handed Bielech dropped the 2-point PAT try. Again Morton moved at will against the Leyden defense, traveling 50 yards to a first down at the Leyden 16 before Mike Cassanave snared a Vargas pass at the Leyden eight and returned it 72 yards to the Morton 20 with 3:06 to play.

By that time Maldonado had already accumulated 281 yards rushing, breaking Josh Serrano’s mark of 276 set two years ago, but he had a rare 2-yard loss on the first play and a zero gain on the next. On third down he zipped 22 yards for another TD only to again be thwarted by a holding penalty. He came right back with nine yards on his 41^st and final carry for the new one-game record of 287 yards but the Eagles gave the ball up on downs with 21 seconds to go. Without the three penalties, Maldonado would have recorded an additional 59 yards. Rose had another good night passing, completing eight of 13 for 128 yards and two of the incompletions were spikes to stop the clock. Bielech grabbed five of Rose’s aerials for 96 yards. Homecoming is next Friday with Willowbrook as guest.