Flis flits, and Vernon Hills downs Dunbar
TJ Flis, a Vernon Hills football player Friday night, made his basketball coach proud.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound running back/linebacker appeared to dribble a football at least three times after fumbling it in the fourth quarter of Vernon Hills’ 38-22 defeat of visiting Dunbar.
VH was up only 24-22 at the time of Flis’ clutch recovery. The 17-yard run came three plays before Cougars senior quarterback Brett Peterson’s 10-yard touchdown run.
And with VH varsity hoops coach Matt McCarty watching from the stands.
“Oh yeah, he was here tonight,” said Flis.
Kicker Jeremy Cohen’s extra point after Peterson’s keeper gave the hosts a 31-22 advantage with 9:51 left in the season opener.
“Lucky, definitely lucky,” said Flis, who was valuable, definitely valuable throughout the night on both sides of the ball. “The ball thankfully stayed in front of me.
“It,” he added, “helped a lot.”
“It” was the Cougars’ brand-new playing surface. The fake turf was installed in the offseason, thanks to “Project Turf.”
Flis also caught a 58-yard TD pass from Peterson and later sacked Dunbar quarterback Kyler Dawson for an 8-yard loss in the third quarter. Flis and senior linebacker David Pierce combined to bring Dawson down for an 11-yard loss in the second half.
The first quarter was the Dylan McNamara Show. Vernon Hills’ senior running back amassed 112 yards – after 6 carries. He scored the first-ever varsity TD on the fresh field and finished with 147 yards rushing on 15 carries. After a 42-yard gain on the second play of the night, he sped to back-to-back 31-yard journeys during the Cougars’ second possession.
Peterson’s first TD of the night, at 2:00 of the first quarter, swelled the lead to 13-0. He ran for 97 yards and 3 TDs and passed for 62 yards.
VH junior Josh Harris needed only 5 carries to gain 72 yards, with his first carry covering 52 yards.
The win was the Cougars’ fourth straight, dating back to Week 7 of the 2011 season, when they finished 5-4 and missed the playoffs after six straight appearances. Last fall’s campaign began like this one did – with a high-scoring contest in the opener.
VH topped Dunbar’s Mightymen 58-34 last August.
“We battled, found a way to win a tough game with a lot of penalties,” VH coach Tony Monken said Friday night