As Downers Grove South struggled to a 1-2 record to start the season, Mustangs coach John Belskis had a plan for his team. And his plan came a little closer to fruition Saturday when the Mustangs defeated Fremd 48-27 in Palatine.
Bob Nakielny rushed 17 times for 117 yards and a touchdown as the Mustangs (9-2) took advantage of early Fremd miscues to build a 27-6 halftime lead and then survived a wild 42-point second-half shootout in the Class 8A second-round contest.
“We struggled in our first three games and we had to do some soul-searching,” said Belskis, whose team won its eighth in a row and advances next week to take on Sandburg. “I told them the only thing left is to run the table. We’ve got enough conference championships, but we don’t have a state title.”
At times the Mustangs looked like serious contenders. After shocking Fremd (9-2) with a 30-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mike Cuzzone (8-for-13, 118 yards) to Kent Hughes just 44 seconds into the contest, the Mustangs took advantage of three consecutive Fremd mistakes to build a big early lead.
Sophomore Sam Carson intercepted a pass from Steven LaFalce near midfield and returned it 14 yards to the Vikings’ 28. Five plays later, Erick Newman scored from 2 yards out for a 14-0 lead. On the next series, Jim Kucera picked up a fumble by LaFalce and returned it 21 yards to the Fremd 29. Kris Coffee then booted a 27-yard field goal for a 17-0 Mustangs lead after one.
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After stopping Fremd once again, Downers put together its longest drive of the game. Cuzzone’s 7-yard score off a bootleg completed a 12-play, 65-yard drive and gave the Mustangs a 24-0 edge with 6:08 left in the half. The drive was aided by a roughing-the-kicker penalty on a missed 35-yard field-goal attempt.
Fremd finally got on the board after Matt Smogor intercepted a pass from Cuzzone near midfield. Five plays later, on fourth-and-5, LaFalce (11-of-25, 168 yards) hooked up with Jeffrey Mandel for a 41-yard score to cut the lead to 24-6. Downers drove once again in the closing minute and Coffee booted a 35-yard field goal as time expired to make it 27-6.
The Vikings quickly came back in the second half and cut the lead twice to seven points. LaFalce had an 8-yard TD run on Fremd’s opening series, and his 24-yard pass to Kenneth Sourounis cut the lead to 27-20 with 54 seconds left in the third.
Downers opened up its passing game and padded its lead when Cuzzone hit Marc Piscitiello with a 15-yard scoring strike early in the fourth. Fremd again trimmed the lead to seven, this time with sophomore Jamil Walker (16 carries, 91 yards) scoring on an 18-yard run with 6:15 remaining.
Kent Hughes took the ensuing kickoff 52 yards to the Fremd 35 and Nakielny scored from the 1-yard line with 5:10 left to make it a 41-27 lead.
— Phil English
Naperville C. 26, New Trier 9
New Trier just couldn’t figure out a way to stop Naperville Central’s Jason Paquette.
The Redhawks’ senior tailback scored three touchdowns and rushed for 214 yards to help lead top-seeded Central.
Paquette had touchdown runs of 32, 39 and 17 yards. He was a workhorse for the host Redhawks (11-0), rushing 24 times before leaving the game midway through the fourth quarter.
New Trier claimed a 3-0 lead on Rob Russell’s 41-yard field goal on the Trevians’ opening possession. But the Redhawks quickly responded with an eight-play, 56-yard drive that ended as Paquette burst up the middle on a first-and-10 at the Trevians 32 and cut to the left sideline for his first score with 4:17 left in the first period.
Paquette scored what proved to be the game-winner with 10:30 left in the second quarter on a 39-yard run and added his final touchdown with 2:10 remaining in the third quarter. Senior Chris Szatko kicked field goals of 20 and 33 yards in the second quarter as the Redhawks built a 19-9 halftime lead.
New Trier (7-4) scored its lone touchdown on Ryan Spellman’s 7-yard run with 52 seconds left in the second quarter.
— Jack McCarthy
Maine S. 49, St. Charles E. 19
Quarterback Tony Wnek accounted for all five first-half touchdowns as the No. 3 Hawks (11-0) romped. After falling behind 7-0 early in the game, Maine South immediately responded on Wnek’s 81-yard scoring pass to Neil Sherlock. Wnek, who was 10-of-14 passing for 185 yards, rushed for three touchdowns and passed for two more.
Jeff Allicino scored two touchdowns for St. Charles East (8-3).
Class 7A
Hubbard 28, St. Patrick 22
The No. 5 Greyhounds (11-0), top-seeded in their class, fended off St. Patrick’s upset bid as Antoine Doby had touchdown runs of 52 and 38 yards, a 24-yard TD reception from Nicholas Davis and a two-point conversion run.
Hubbard led 28-15 with 7:01 left in the fourth quarter, when Saul Ibarra returned a punt 66 yards for a score to help the Shamrocks (7-4) pull within the final margin. St. Patrick got the ball back twice more but failed to cross midfield.
“This was one of the hardest-hitting games I’ve been associated with,” Hubbard coach Elton Harris said. “We knew what we needed to do and we did it.”
Tim McGarigle paced St. Patrick with 137 yards rushing and a TD in 21 carries.
Prospect 17, Loyola 10
There wasn’t much talk about Prospect’s defense during its undefeated campaign. But Prospect’s defense made lots of noise Saturday night as the unit came through on four occasions in the fourth quarter to help the hosts defeat Loyola in front of standing-room only crowd of 5,000.
“Our defense came up big in the end,” said Prospect coach Brent Pearlman, whose team advances to play Buffalo Grove. “Our defense gave up some yards, but we battled all night. The game put our defense in a position to win it for us and we did.”
After a 6-yard touchdown run by Patrick Wilson gave Prospect a 17-10 lead with 2:11 left in the third, the Knights’ defense did the rest. Prospect stuffed Loyola QB Jake Toohey on a crucial 4th-and-1 on the Knights’ 35-yard line with 11:11 left. And then, after Prospect fumbled its possession, the Knights’ defense sacked Toohey, and Ben Coffman pounced on the ball at Loyola’s 46.
Prospect forced Loyola to punt on its next possession before the Ramblers had one more try. Toohey completed three straight passes that got Loyola to the Prospect 37, but the Knights kept the Ramblers’ Chris Fox (17 carries, 111 yards, 1 TD) in bounds with no timeouts remaining. Toohey’s final 30-yard attempt fell incomplete as time expired.
Prospect QB George Smith was 7-of-13 passing for 129 yards and a touchdown to lead the Knights.
— Henry Del Valle
Edwardsville 16, Morgan Park 6
Milan Woodard and Paul Jonff scored rushing touchdowns to lead Edwardsville (10-1). Morgan Park (9-2) scored in the second quarter when Reginald Gray caught a 10-yard pass from Jerohn Fields.
Class 6A
T.F. South 31, Simeon 0
Thornton Fractional South was eager to jump on Simeon at the start of their game at Gately Stadium. Pierre Thomas and Chris Dennis made sure of it.
Despite playing with a cast on his left arm, Dennis recovered two onside kicks in the first four minutes, each play setting up touchdown runs by Thomas as the Rebels scored on their first four possessions to pound the Wolverines.
No. 20 T.F. South (10-1) advances to the quarterfinals for the first time since 1994 in a matchup against conference rival, No. 5 and Class 7A second-seeded Richards. Thomas scored four touchdowns in the first half, staking T.F. South to a 24-0 advantage at the break.
A year ago, Thomas was on the sidelines, unable to play because of an injury, as the Rebels were destroyed by Public League power Hubbard 46-0.
Thomas gained 198 yards in 31 carries, extending his season totals to 30 TDs and 1,880 yards.
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Nick Jensen completed just one pass, though the 17-yard strike to Matt Smit on fourth-and-10 helped set up Thomas’s second score. Rebels fullback Jon Mosley (17 carries, 66 yards) finished the scoring on a 2-yard dive with two minutes to play.
The Rebels defense limited Simeon (6-5) to 113 total yards. They put constant pressure on sophomore Vashon Winton, who was 4-of-15 for 47 yards with one interception.
— Patrick Z. McGavin
Carmel 35, Rockford Boylan 7
Pat Adrien returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown as the No. 11 Corsairs (10-1) jumped to a 20-0 first-quarter lead. Adrien added a 19-yard TD run in the third and linebacker Josh Bruenning had seven tackles to lead the Carmel defense, which recorded five sacks.
Joe Koniglio rushed for a TD in the fourth for Boylan (8-3).
Prairie Ridge 38, Ottawa 7
Judd Thompson completed 9-of-13 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns to lead Prairie Ridge (10-1) to a matchup with No. 2 Providence in the Class 6A quarterfinals. Matt Raine had three touchdowns, two of them rushing, and ran for 74 yards to lead the Wolves. Rob Gray added a touchdown run and Adam Rice caught Thompson’s other scoring toss.
Class 5A
Riv.-Brookfield 54, Darnall 27
Tim Brasic was 19-of-36 passing for 326 yards and threw five touchdown passes to five receivers as the No. 7 Bulldogs (11-0) romped past Geneseo Darnall. Brasic also rushed for 132 yards in 11 carries and a touchdown. Shatone Powers caught nine passes for 136 yards and a TD.
Matt George blocked a punt in the second quarter, which was returned by Peter Harris 30 yards for a touchdown as Riverside-Brookfield opened a 33-7 halftime lead.
Josh Rowold had 20 carries for 120 yards and three touchdowns to lead Darnall (7-4).
Vernon Hills 42, Rich East 26
Jason Newburger was 12-of-17 passing for 198 yards and three touchdowns as the Cougars (8-3) outscored Rich East 23-7 in the second half. Newburger also scored on a 37-yrad run. Keith Heerdegen had three touchdowns of his own–two receiving and one on a 81-yard kickoff return.
Gamar Diamond ran for 287 yards and three touchdowns in 28 attempts to lead Rich East (8-3), which jumped out to a 12-0 lead. Diamond scored on runs of 10, 2 and 91 yards.
Class 4A
Driscoll 38, Lisle 19
Victor Arlis rushed for 182 yards and two touchdowns in 24 carries and caught a 43-yard TD pass to lead Driscoll (9-2). Arlis scored on runs of 1 and 42 yards. Matt Mahaney added three passing touchdowns and Greg Turner returned a kickoff 75 yards for another touchdown for the Highlanders.
Kevin Crouch ran for a touchdown and passed for another to lead Lisle (7-4).
Montini 21, Burlington C. 20
Quarterback Scott Andriano accounted for 211 yards of offense and threw for a touchdown to lift Montini (9-2) over second-seeded Burlington Central (9-2).
Class 2A
Peru-St. Bede 21, Walther 20
Jacob Rodriguez rushed for 144 yards and a touchdown and kicked three extra-points to help the 16th-seeded Bruins (9-2) upset No. 1 seed Walther Lutheran (10-1).
Tony Stanton ran for 161 yards, including an 87-yard TD, and Bo Flowers added a scoring run and TD pass to lift Walther to a 20-7 fourth-quarter lead. But Peru-St. Bede stormed back as Brendan Kelley and Michael Andreoni each rushed for a score.
Walther Lutheran had a touchdown run called back for holding midway through the fourth quarter, and Josh Simpson’s 30-yard field-goal attempt with 20 seconds remaining was wide right.
Catholic Metro playoffs
Fenwick 21, Marian Catholic 0
Kevin Quinn had touchdown runs of 2 and 16 yards as the Friars (7-4) intercepted Marian Catholic (5-6) four times.