Conant sacks Hersey
The Conant sack attack made its presence felt in Friday's Mid-Suburban League crossover football game.
The host Cougars rang up 9 sacks and 5 tackles for loss and generally made life miserable for Hersey in an 18-7 victory at Feutz Field in Hoffman Estates.
“(Defensive coordinator) Tony Wolanski called a great game tonight,” Conant coach Bill Modelski said. “We run pretty well, and we hit you when we get there.”
Danny Lampert led the defense with 4 sacks, and Gino Prestia added 3, all in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter.
“The D-line makes it easy for everybody,” Prestia said. “It starts up front. We know we had to come with some pressure and make some big plays.”
“He came up big for us,” Modelski said. “He came free and finished big tonight.”
Those plays held the Huskies (2-2) to 186 yards, including minus-1 rushing. Heading into MSL divisional play next week, Conant remains the league's lone unbeaten team at 4-0, the first time the Cougars have opened with four wins since 2003.
Conant scored first on a 1-yard run by Cordell Smith with 2.9 seconds left in the first quarter, capping a 10-play, 49-yard drive.
Hersey led ever-so-briefly at 7-6, when Justin Jobski hauled in a 26-yard pass from Brad Zaucha (21-of-32, 187 yards) with 3:12 left in the third quarter.
On Conant's first play from scrimmage after that score, junior wideout Tim Manczko took a short pass from Matt Cullen (16-for-24, 229 yards) and raced 70 yards for the score, putting the Cougars on top for good 12-7.
“I have to give credit to (Nick) Blaha and (Jake) Valas,” Manczko (9 catches for 146 yards and 2 touchdowns) said. “Two great blocks by the wide receivers, and all you have to do is run.”
Hersey went three-and-out, and then Conant drove 80 yards in 10 plays for the final score, a 9-yard pass from Cullen to Manczko, who outjumped the Hersey defender for the ball.
Conant finished the job when Prestia broke loose for 3 sacks, the last 2 on successive plays.
“We don't think we are where we need to be yet,” Modelski said. “We need to keep getting better. That's our big focus in practice.”
“I'm thoroughly embarrassed, disappointed and ashamed at the way we played, and that's entirely my fault,” Hersey coach Dragan Teonic said. “We need to get it fixed.
“I don't think we valued the football or protected the quarterback,” he said. “We did not play a very good game tonight.”
Conant's Jacobi Sims led all rushers with 70 yards on 11 carries.