After transferring to Homewood-Flossmoor from Thornwood, John Gore had to sit out the 2021 football season as a junior. It was a pretty tough pill to swallow.
Gore, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound wide receiver, had played football his entire life.
“It was a little rough not playing and transitioning into a new school,” he said. “But I showed up to all of the practices and all of the games.”
Cameron Oglesby, now a senior quarterback, liked what he saw out of Gore in practice last year and couldn’t wait to throw to him during games this season.
The two were on fire Friday night as H-F snapped Lockport’s nine-game winning streak with a 35-20 SouthWest Suburban Blue decision over the defending Class 8A state champion.
Oglesby connected with Gore seven times for 78 yards. Included in those numbers were two touchdowns and a pair of two-point conversions for the Vikings (2-1, 1-0).
“He’s everything,” Oglesby said of Gore. “He fast. He can run. He can jump. Everything. He can do it all, and when you have a guy like this, you never go wrong throwing him the ball.
“I wanted him on the field last year, and things started clicking right away the first day of summer camp. Now, we’re able to show everybody what we can do together.”
H-F coach Terrell Alexander said it took a ton of mental toughness for Gore to get through his junior year without football.
“He put in a lot of hard work,” Alexander said of Gore. “That’s why we’re rooting for that young man.”
H-F took a 27-0 halftime lead against the Porters (3-1, 0-1) but had to hang on.
The Vikings opened up the passing game up by running the ball, with senior Kamrin Cox gaining 57 of his 106 yards in the first quarter.
Cox gave H-F an insurance TD limping into the end zone on a 25-yard run in the fourth quarter. He didn’t return to the game, resting on the bench with ice on his knee and ankle.
This series had been dominated by H-F until 2021.
Before Lockport’s 22-0 win last year, the Vikings had won the previous nine games by an average score of 46-11, scoring 50 or more points three times.
Gore said revenge was not on the Vikings’ minds.
“This was a business trip,” he said. “We had to take care of business.”
After throwing for only 54 yards in the first half, senior quarterback Brady Pfeiffer heated up in the second half for Lockport with 128 yards and three TDs. Two scores went to Michael Doneske.
Junior running back Aiden Preciado had 14 carries during an 18-play scoring drive that put the Porters on the board. He finished with 118 yards on 23 carries.
But like Cox for H-F, Preciado had to leave the game in the fourth quarter with an injury.
“We finished well, and that’s what you want,” Lockport coach George Czart said. “You never want to leave the field playing like we did the first half.
“At halftime, we wanted to play a better second half. We would have liked to have started the game that way.”
After having a string of 10 straight playoff appearance snapped, H-F is looking to make the postseason again for the first time since 2019.
With games against Bolingbrook and Lincoln-Way East coming up on the schedule, it won’t be easy, but Friday’s first half gave the Vikings confidence.
“We have stuff we need to fix on offense, defense, special teams and everywhere,” Oglesby said. “We can’t stop. We can’t be happy.”
“We can’t be satisfied,” Gore said. “We can’t get comfortable. We have to work.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.