Lions’ defense no match for Indiana

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Leyden Lions cornerback Mike Kalmuk is carried off the field by teammates and staff after being injured, during the Lions' loss to the Indiana Generals on Saturday in Melrose Park. | Jon Langham~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: October 19, 2011 3:39AM

The Mid States Football League’s top defense was no match for the No. 1 offense as the Indiana Generals poured it on and crushed the Leyden Lions 48-13 Saturday night at Serpico Field.

Some extenuating circumstances had the Lions (6-3, 4-2) in the hole from the outset since projected starting quarterback Jondae King had to miss the game, Andrew Orton was out with another concussion, and a newly signed signal-caller with just a couple of practices sessions under his belt was called on to lead the Lions offense.

“We had a little bit of a problem at quarterback this week,” Lions head coach Jose Rodriguez said. “We started No. 9, Jim Morris, but we just picked him up this week and he’s only been to one practice. He played eight-man football with the Chicago Cowboys, but him not knowing the offense really hurt us.

“But we also had a lot of turnovers at the beginning and the defense was tired and they put up 34 points on us at halftime. With Jondae gone and Orton out with another concussion — he won’t be able to play for another two to three weeks — we struggled on offense and I think it carried over and put a lot of pressure on the defense.”

The Generals (8-0, 5-0) showed why they are the top-ranked offensive team in the league as they put up 35 points in a little more than a quarter and a half.

Indiana, in its first season in the MSFL, scored on its opening drive as quarterback Jeremy Hibbeln hit Bobby Burton with a 12-yard scoring strike with 12 minutes, 7 seconds to go in the opening period. Hibbeln threw five touchdown passes in the game to lead the Generals to their 20th consecutive victory.

It was Hibbeln to Joe Zeunik from 19 yards out at 9:48 on the Generals’ first play from scrimmage after a long punt return gave them great field position. A 2-yard run by Bobby Asbery capped a nine-play, 80-yard drive with 13:32 to go in the second quarter and a 53-yard romp with 8:19 to play before the half put the Generals up 28-0.

Less than two minutes later, Hibbeln found Antawan Mack in the end zone from 19 yards away, and a blocked extra point was the only highlight for the Lions up to that point as the visitors led 34-0.

But it was the defense that pulled the Lions back into the game late in the second quarter.

After an Alex Soto interception, new Lions quarterback Morris connected with Mike Swiatkowski on a 15-yard TD pass to make it 34-6 after the PAT attempt was blocked with 1:46 before the break. On the Generals’ next possession, Mat Odigie picked off Hibbeln and returned it 38 yards to set up the final Leyden score — a 24-yard scoring pass to Chris Bork to bring the Lions to within 34-13 at halftime.

“We passed a lot today to give him more reps and Jim (Morris) showed a lot of good reads and a good arm,” Rodriguez said. “He really didn’t do too bad a job for not being familiar with the routes yet.”

That would be all the offense for the Lions, however, as the only second-half scores came from the Generals — on a pair of TD hook-ups from Hibbeln to Dujuan Self for 5 and 77 yards, respectively.

“I’m not too concerned with tonight’s effort,” Rodriguez said. “We’ll be all right. That’s a good team (Indiana) and, hopefully, we’ll face them again in the championship. We’ll see.”

The Lions hit the road for a 7 p.m match-up Saturday against the Mid State Steel in Peoria.