Montini eases past North Lawndale, looks ahead to Byron challenge

The timing might not be ideal, but Montini got the matchup it has been waiting for.

The Broncos eased past North Lawndale 49-0 on Saturday at Rockne Stadium to set up a rematch against defending champ Byron in the second round of the Class 3A playoffs next weekend.

Santino Flores caught a touchdown pass and returned a punt for another score, and Israel Abrams passed for two touchdowns for the Broncos (8-2). Jeremiah Patterson added five carries for 101 yards and a touchdown, and Chris Juda (100 yards) and Max Bell (75 yards) had long pick-sixes.

Now the focus turns to Byron (10-0), which comes to Lombard next weekend. The Tigers won 28-20 in the semifinals last season, their only playoff game decided by fewer than 48 points.

‘‘We wanted them for so long, so it’s time to come through,’’ Flores said. ‘‘We didn’t want to feel that again.’’

‘‘We get them a little earlier than we thought we’d get them,’’ Montini coach Mike Bukovsky said. ‘‘But it is what it is. We’re ready.’’

Flores gives the Broncos a lot of options, as he demonstrated in the first quarter. He caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Abrams, then ran a punt back 50 yards for a score in a span of less than three minutes.

‘‘We can use him in a lot of different ways,’’ Bukovsky said. ‘‘He’s very explosive. I’ve been coaching here 35 years, and he might be the quickest one-step explosion guy I’ve ever seen. He gets from zero to 60 in a short amount of time.

‘‘We might have had a few guys [who were] maybe faster, but he just has that twitch.’’

The more ways the coaching staff finds to deploy him, the happier Flores is.

‘‘I like being versatile,’’ he said.

Abrams had an easy but productive day. He was 3-for-4 for 65 yards with touchdown passes to Flores and Nico Castaldo.

‘‘He’s amazing, one of the best athletes I’ve ever seen in my life,’’ Flores said of Abrams. ‘‘He came [into] the offense and just dominated.’’

Abrams, who has a scholarship offer from Iowa State, and senior Gaetano Carbonara, who passed for more than 2,000 yards last season, both saw action earlier in the season.

‘‘They both did some good things, and Izzy just gives us a little bit of an extra dimension,’’ Bukovsky said. ‘‘We feel pretty good about that situation moving forward.’’

As for the Byron situation, Bukovsky likes the location.

‘‘I would rather give up a round or two with the chance to play them at home,’’ he said.

North Lawndale, which dressed 25 players and was missing two key defenders because of injuries, finished 7-3. Senior quarterback Tysean Perkins ran 17 times for 104 yards and was 6-for-21 passing for 64 yards with two interceptions.

‘‘Tysean is special,’’ North Lawndale coach Reggie Collins said. ‘‘I’m hoping some college sees what we see in him and that they allow him to take it to the next level.’’