Lane's Vernon Cole Carries Champions into Second Round of Playoffs

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT BY JOHN MONTGOMERY

Not even an eight-man defensive front could stop Lane running back Vernon Cole last Friday night on Halloween in the opening round of the Class 8A state high school football playoff. Cole, who has been recovering from an ankle injury, saw limited action but rushed for 77 yards and one touchdown, added a 36-yard punt return and briefly ran a Wildcat offense in a 34-6 victory over Perspectives.

“I would have to say honestly that he is our best football player,” said Deshon Conley, Lane’s first-year head coach. “And he is a better person off the field than he is a football player.”

Cole, who was a wrestler in elementary school, didn’t start playing football until he enrolled at Lane. As a senior, he has done it all to become one of the best players in the city, rushing for 855 yards and 11 touchdowns. He also has completed two passes in the Wildcat offense. And he also plays defensive back.

“He can play college football one day,” Conley said. “Some coaches like to see him play on defense. Some coaches would like to see him play on offense.”

Cole, a 5-9, 165-pounder who won the Public League’s 165-pound wrestling championship as a junior, has his own game plan. “I want to play offense. My dream is to play for (coach) Deion Sanders at Colorado. My favorite running back is Jaymyr Gibbs of the Detroit Lions (of the NFL).”

Lane (9-1), who have never won a state football title, recorded its first playoff victory in 21 years.The Champions will try to advance to the quarterfinals when they host Oswego (8-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Lane Stadium.

At the same time, Lane hopes to change the Chicago Public League’s statewide image in football.Last weekend, Public League teams went 0-15 against non-city competition in the opening round of the state tournament. Phillips is the only Public League school to win a state title, 4A in 2015 and 5A in 2017. Robeson was 6A runner-up in 1982.

“We know it is going to be difficult to win a state championship because of the schools in Class 8A and the competition,” Conley said. “However, I am confident the coaching staff can come up with a game plan against any opponent. I look forward to the challenge.”

One thing opponents must prepare to defend against is Lane’s Wildcat formation. The offense made popular by former Florida quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow.

“It was my idea to use the Wildcat,” Cole said. “I told the coaches that the holes were there. It has been a big part of our playbook.”

On Friday night, Perspectives tried to contain Cole. The first half was a nightmare as Lane was shut out, then fell behind 6-0 when Perspectives’ Herman Yancy scored on a 51-yard pass interception return in the third quarter. But junior quarterback Blake Perkins, who recently earned a starting position because Conley wanted to improve Lane’s passing attack, stepped up in the second half with touchdown runs of 37 and 30 yards and a 20-yard scoring pass to Aidan Andrich.

“I told the kids at halftime that when you are ready to make plays and block, you will win the game,” Conley said.

“I think I just panicked in the first half. I just rushed myself,” Perkins said.

While Perkins and Cole are the keys to Lane’s offense, the defense has been even more effective, recording five shutouts while not allowing an offensive touchdown last Friday. Cole should know about Lane’s defense. He sees it every day in practice.

“I think this defense has to be one of the best in the city and state,” Cole said. “The record speaks for itself. I don’t think anybody can really score on us.”

Against Perspectives, the defense was led by 6-3, 280-pound senior linebacker Daniel Howard, who is committed to Iowa State, and 5-11, 260-pound junior end Kanye Williams. They will be tested this weekend by Oswego (8-2), which is averaging 30 points per game.

This has been a rewarding, turn-around season for Lane, which was 3-6 a year ago. The players have responded very positively to Conley’s coaching philosophy.

“He has a great football IQ,” Cole said about his coach. “He is a leader on and off the football field.”

So is Cole.

“Lane is one of the top three schools in the state,” he said. “It is great being a student-athlete at Lane. Balancing academics and athletics make you a better person. It is always school first for me.”

“I am very proud of him,” said Mike Smith, Lane’s head of security.

So how far can this team go in the state playoff. Old-timers argue Lane’s 1980 team that lost to Gordon Tech in the Class 6A semifinals might have been one of the best teams never to win a state championship.

What will be the legacy of the 2025 squad? Saturday’s game against Oswego should provide some answers.

Lane Tech Rallies to Defeat Perspectives-Leadership 34-6

[Preview of my story in Inside—Booster.]

By Jack Lydon

The Lane Tech Champions (9-1) eventually woke up and put up thirty-four points in the second half of Halloween night’s IHSA 8A playoff opener to be beat Perspective-Leadership (5-5) 34-6.

It may have been looking past Perspectives or being tired after a long season or something else but it took the Lane Tech Champions a half of football to dial up enough intensity to beat the Perspectives Leadership Warriors Friday evening and win their first state playoff game in twenty-one years.

It was a scoreless tie going into the half. The Champions not only looked flat, utterly unmotivated, they were also playing poorly; dropping passes, missing tackles and committing penalties.  

“I told them whenever you are ready to go make plays, we will win the game. That’s pretty much all I said. Whenever we are ready to make some players will be find a way to win this game,” Lane first year head coach Deshon Conley.

Lane’s junior quarterback Blake Jenkins struggled in the first half.

“I think I just tried to relax myself. First drive do this, second drive do this, get a big first half and I think I just panicked. I rushed myself,” Jenkins admitted after the game.

“Going into half, I kind of all right relaxed, [I told myself,] get your throws down, get your reads down, came back out here, and I relaxed myself. I was much more calm in the pocket. I made throws, made the runs that we needed to do and we got the win,” said Roscoe Village native Jenkins.

Despite the lopsided final score things look bad for the Champions when on the third play of the second half, Jenkins through a pass that was picked off by Perspectives’ safety Herman “Yanc” Yancy and returned 51 yards for Warriors touchdown.

After Lane running back Vernon Cole put the Champions tied the game early in the third quarter, it was Jenkins’ running that proved the difference. Jenkins put together back-to-back touchdown runs of 37 and 30 yards.

“No, I haven't I've never done something like that. I'm not the fastest of guys. I've never been the runner. So it was definitely different for me. So everyone is pretty hyped when I scored that [second one]. But yeah, it was definitely fun,” Jenkins continued.

“I told Blake at halftime, I said you’ve got a couple [chances] to make this day right. He came out and through pick six which we didn't want. But after that, I think he played pretty flawless football,” said Conley.

Jenkins’ touchdown runs come off the same play. He faked a toss to the right to the tail back, then kept the ball and ran to the left.

“It was a halftime adjustment. Shout out to my guys. that eyes and press box. They saw that whenever we did, they go toss that all their players crashed to the sideline. So we knew that we'd probably get it with the fake toss,” Conley said.

In recent years to Champions have fallen victim to powerhouse suburban teams. The last time the Champions, at the point they were still the Indians, won a playoff game was 2004 with a 39-20 win over York. This year, with an impressive 8-1 record, the Champions landed the number 27 seed Perspectives Warriors with a 5-4 record in the Chicago Public Leagues Metro South Division.

The Champions move onto host a second-round game against Oswego next Saturday at Lane Stadium. The game time has yet to be determined.

Lane Earns Berth in State Football Playoffs

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT BY JOHN MONTGOMERY

Lane, you are the champions.

Lane is one of few high schools that can actually say “We Are The Champions,” in reference to the now famous 1977 song by the rock group Queen that is often played after a sports team wins a championship. Lane’s nickname was “School of Champions” with good reason as the North Side school at Western and Addison has won over 500 city championships and 16 state titles since its founding in 1908.

In the Chicago Public League, Lane has been dominant in football, baseball and swimming. Today, it is a contender in a variety of varsity sports.

For many years, the school was known as the Indians. The statue of a symbolic Indian has stood in the school’s courtyard since 1947.

“We are a true College Prep School,” athletic director Brent Bradish told me recently. “Being the athletic director at Lane is an opportunity to work at a great school.”

Unfortunately, despite its distinguished academic and athletic reputation, which reminds many people of Northwestern in the Big Ten, there were some critics, especially Native American groups and former students, who were upset with the school’s nickname and mascot. There also were some students and alumni who weren’t offended and thought the issue was overblown. It all came to a head in 2020 and 2021 with a series of protests.

As in the cases of the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Redskins, the Lane administration bowed to public pressure and voted to change the school’s nickname to Champions. Other nominees were Owl, Bison and Lightning. But Champions at the School of Champions prevailed.

In 2021, current principal Edwina Thompson summarized the issue with this public statement: “Our stakeholders have decided to stand with our name Lane Tech but continue our tradition on being School of Champions by selecting Champions as our symbol of honor.”

“We didn’t just change the nickname,” said Bradish, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs and attended Rolling Meadows High School. “It was a rebranding. The response to the new nickname has been positive.”

First-year football coach Deshon Conley agrees. “The nickname Indians was the nickname (five years ago) and I didn’t get involved with the controversy. I am just the football coach. The new nickname is appropriate. We have been called the School of Champions for years,” he said.

The first great student-athlete at Lane was three-sport star Fritz Pollard, who now is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and was the first black head coach in the NFL. Lane Stadium, one of the jewels of the Chicago Public League, has been renamed Pollard Field. Other standouts who attended Lane were Olympic gold-medal swimmer Johnny Weissmuller, the first Tarzan of the movies, former Chicago Cubs star and manager Phil Cavarretta and lineman Laken Tomlinson of the Houston Texans of the NFL.

During the 2024-25 school year, Lane thrived by winning 12 Public League varsity championships while advancing to the state finals in four sports. In Class 4A, Lane finished in the top four in boys soccer, boys swimming, boys volleyball and girls soccer. Both soccer teams lost in the state championship game.

One of the many jobs of an athletic director is to hire and fire coaches. Bradish may have scored a touchdown by promoting Conley, who was Lane’s defensive coordinator for the last four years. Conley responded by guiding Lane to the state playoff for the 29th time, more than any other Public League school. The Champions (6-1) punched a ticket for this year’s Class 8A playoff by beating Phillips 13-0 last Friday at Gately Stadium. Quite a comeback from last year’s 3-6 finish.

“I didn’t come into this season with any expectations,” Conley said. “Last year, we came in with great expectations and finished 3-6. And we had some great football players.”

This year’s squad features some great players. The offense is led by running back and two-way standout Vernon Cole, who has scored 10 touchdowns and has emerged as one of the leading players in the Public League. The defense, which has allowed only 38 points while posting four shutouts, is led by 5-11, 260-pound junior tackle Kanye Williams, junior linebacker Aiden Boywid, senior end Greg Howard and junior safety Clay Taylor.

“We have had some great turnouts at home games,” Bradish said. “It was great to start 4-0. We had a wide list of candidates (for the head coaching job). Deshon has been here as an assistant coach for four years .He has a great relationship with the kids.”

Lane, whose only setback was a 16-13 decision to Payton(6-1) will close its regular season with back-to-back home games against Westinghouse and King. Pairings for the state playoff will be announced on Saturday night October 25.

“We have won the most championships in football (in Public League history) and we have won the most championships in baseball,” Conley said. “Hopefully I can win a (Public League) championship .”

Like Champions from the past at Lane and add another championship banner.

Lane Tech defensive line. (Photo credit: Jack Lydon.)