Big start launches Hersey
The first quarter in Friday’s Mid-Suburban League football crossover between Hersey at Hoffman Estates really tells the tale of the game.
In the first 12 minutes, the visiting Huskies amassed 171 yards of offense, forced two Hoffman turnovers (one of which was an 8-yard interception return for a touchdown by Nathan Fakhouri) and put 23 points on the board.
From there Hersey was able to pound the ball on the ground en route to a 49-0 victory.
“It was huge,” Hersey coach Dragan Teonic said of the first quarter. “We haven’t been in that situation before where we’ve jumped on somebody that fast. It’s huge when you can jump on somebody.”
The Huskies were able to lean heavily on their rushing attack after building their big lead. Hersey ran the ball 40 times and racked up 246 yards on the ground, with senior running back Andrew Collins leading the way for the big night with 136 yards and 2 touchdowns on 17 carries.
“Our offensive line really got it done tonight,” Collins said. “We just executed.”
The Huskies (2-0) were also impressive when they threw the ball. Senior quarterback Brad Zaucha was 13-for-17 for 145 yards with 3 touchdown passes.
“We work on timing all the time. That’s our main focus on these type of routes,” Zaucha said. “Our receivers ran great routes, and the line gave me time to make the passes.”
Justin Jobski had 4 catches for 55 yards for Hersey, while David Jackowski had an impressive all-purpose game for the Huskies. He had 8 carries for 31 yards and a touchdown and 2 catches for 21 yards with both catches resulting in touchdowns.
Hersey got off to a good start to the season last year before faltering in MSL East play. Teonic thinks this year’s team will not have the same pitfalls of last year.
“We weren’t quite as united last year, I felt, going into games as we are this year,” Teonic said. “The kids really do stick together and hang out together. They are a tight-knit group. I felt like last year we didn’t have the ability to make plays at the end of the game when we needed to. This year we are showing a little more fight on both sides of the ball.”
Hoffman (0-2) couldn’t overcome 3 interceptions, a lost fumble and 2 turnovers on downs because of issues in the punting game.
“We have to limit our mistakes,” Hoffman coach Bill Helzer said. “You can’t turn the ball over six times. We know we’re better than that, and we know we’ve got to take care of the ball. That’s 10 turnovers in the first two weeks. You can’t win football games that way.”
Hawks’ senior quarterback Jordan Hudak was 16-of-31 for 118 yards. His favorite target was junior receiver Mike Jackson, who caught 7 passes for 49 yards.