Antioch’s ‘Big Dog’ puts the bite on Libertyville
From the first time Antioch coach Brian Glashagel saw Austin Vogel, he envisioned him in a football uniform. The only problem was the 6-foot-6, 280-pound Vogel thought football wasn’t for him.
“When I saw him freshman year we kept asking him to come out for football,” Glashagel said. “Sophomore year, junior year — we just kept hoping he would come out, and finally he did.”
When his senior year started, Vogel, who couldn’t master even the basic three-point stance at first, decided it was time for football and the Sequoits couldn’t be happier.
The massive offensive lineman who has earned the nickname “Big Dog” was a big reason Antioch was able to run the ball right at Libertyville Friday night. The beneficiary of the huge effort by the Big Dog and his friends was senior Dan Arden.
A week after Arden rushed for a career-best 182 yards in a win over Waukegan, he carried 32 times for 179 yards and accounted for all 3 Sequoits touchdowns in a 21-0 blanking of the Wildcats.
It was the first win by Antioch at Libertyville since 1983 and the first time Libertyville had been shutout since a 14-0 loss in the playoffs to Providence in 2000.
“He (Vogel) is the Big Dog on this team,” Arden said. “We worked him pretty hard all summer and he has been doing great all year.”
Vogel teamed up with Jonathan Buxton, Lee Shannon, Nate Zien and Mark Lyman to help Antioch (3-0) run for 252 yards as a team Friday night.
“We didn’t start out so well as a group but we have really picked it up since,” Vogel said.
Arden and the offensive line got things moving quickly for Antioch on the Sequoits second possession of the night. Arden carried the ball four times on the drive including a 28-yard run to put the Sequoits up 7-0 early.
“(Antioch) was more physical than us on both sides of the ball,” said Libertyville coach Randy Kuceyeski. “Antioch always plays physical and has a good hitting club. And tonight they outhit us.”
Offensively, Libertyville (2-1) ran into a physical Antioch defensive front led by seniors Sam Emanuelson and Zach Freundt.
Libertyville caught a break midway through the third quarter when Antioch quarterback Josh Antilla appeared to score, but lost the ball as he crossed the line. The Wildcats answered with their only sustained drive of the night but were halted again by the Antioch defense with 1:58 to in the third quarter.
“We got a chance to make a play down there to change the game some but it just seemed like we had to overcome some type of adversity all night,” Kuceyeski said.