Elk Grove keeps believing

It would have been easy for Elk Grove to use some of its top football players wearing slings as a crutch.

Oh, a pair of those was being used on the sideline Friday night, too.

And the Grenadiers appeared to be in a world of hurt on the field midway through the first half at Buffalo Grove. The Bison scored the first 10 points and seemed intent on making sure they added to the festive atmosphere of the field dedication ceremony for legendary coach Grant Blaney and the reunion of his undefeated 1986 state championship team.

Everything seemed stacked against the Grenadiers, who had three-phase standout Dejan Basara on the sideline with a broken collarbone and five new defensive starters on the field. But they hung in and then dug back into the Mid-Suburban East opener.

“Personally I was a little worried with all of the new guys,” said Elk Grove senior two-way lineman Greg Johnsen. “But I knew the sophomores were going to settle down and step up.

“I wasn’t really scared because we were down 11 to Fremd and came back (to win in overtime). I knew we could do it but we had to get everybody on our team to believe.”

Believe the Grenadiers did as they pulled off a gutty 17-10 victory to improve to 4-1.

“Before the game we realized no one thought we could pull this off,” said Elk Grove senior running back-linebacker Stefan Skoneczka, who bulled and pulled defenders to 129 yards. “But we believed in each other.”

No Basara at quarterback, linebacker, kicker and punt snapper was hardly no problem for Elk Grove. Backup quarterback and defensive starter Dylan Edwards, lineman Johnny Assimakopoulos and linebacker Alfonso Lavin were also watching everything unfold.

“Our motivation was to play for our brothers who couldn’t be out there with us,” said Elk Grove senior two-way lineman Dan Egan.

The new kids got rocked in the first 18 minutes as the Grenadiers gave up 166 yards. But sophomore Travon Royal, juniors Luke Dybicz, Mike Maize and Kishan Patel and senior Tom Jansen — all starting on defense for the first time — settled in to a unit which allowed only 85 second-half yards.

And sophomore quarterback Adam O’Malley kept his poise in his first start by leading a 77-yard touchdown drive to end the first half. Then he bounced back from an interception to combine with versatile Jeff Miceli on a beautiful 17-yard pitch-and-catch for the go-ahead score on the first play of the fourth quarter.

“We just have a ton of heart,” Johnsen said. “We fight for each other. The whole program, we talk about fighting for guys who are down.”

They were all in this together, as Skoneczka displayed with “Serb” shaved into the side of his head for Basara, one of his best friends. They showed they aren’t going to go through the East without a battle no matter who they put on the field.

“We’re going to figure out who guys are over the next four weeks,” said Elk Grove coach Brian Doll with a smile.

He certainly knows what they’re all about after this week.

mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com