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BG stands tall at Schaumburg

Back in the mid-1970s, Muhammad Ali won the Thrilla in Manila.

On Friday night, the Buffalo Grove football team managed to survive the Suspense in Schaumburg.

The Bison improved their record to 2-0 by defeating the Saxons 27-21 in a Mid-Suburban League crossover contest that had all the theater of a legendary prize fight.

Buffalo Grove ultimately TKO'd Schaumburg by preventing the Saxons from scoring the game-tying touchdown three times at the 1-foot-line with 19.7 seconds left.

After Schaumburg coach Mark Stilling used his final timeout, he watched his team nearly fumble the ball away on second-and-goal, then had quarterback Alex Kiszkowski spike the ball on third down, setting up a fourth-down do-or-die play with 3.1 seconds left.

A tie game was mere inches away, but the Bison defensive front swarmed Kiszkowski on a rush attempt that ran out the clock.

Pandemonium ensued on the Buffalo Grove sideline.

"They're going to fight you tooth and nail every single time," Bison coach Mike DiMatteo said of his squad, after being mobbed by his players post-game. "That's what we preach - stay in the fight. Run to the fight, stay in the fight, and that's what they did, and I'm just so proud for them."

His defensive coordinator, Jeff Vlk, said that the entire evening came down to Ali-like confidence for his charges.

"We just wanted to get our kids to believe," Vlk said. "Right there, the kids weren't hoping we were going to win, they believed we were going to win. That's the best thing about this defense - they want the game in their hands at the end of the game."

The stop on the last three downs was the second time Buffalo Grove's defensive front rose to the occasion in the game's final six minutes.

Behind the hard-charging running of senior tailback Justice Macneal-Young, Schaumburg put together a 4-minute drive that culminated in a fourth-and-1 at the Bison 4-yard line with 5:55 to go. But Macneal-Young was stopped just inches short, thus giving Buffalo Grove the ball.

The Bison moved the ball to their own 37, but after junior quarterback Trey Cervantes was sacked and an incomplete pass, Schaumburg forced a punt on fourth-and-9 and took over at its own 49.

On the first play from scrimmage, sophomore running back Olijah Salley broke loose for a 36-yard run to the Bison 15. An 8-yard run by Kiszkowski was followed by runs of 2 and 4 yards from Macneal-Young, placing the ball literally within the shadow of the Buffalo Grove goalposts.

But three plays later, it was over.

"A win like this doesn't start tonight," DiMatteo said. "It started when these kids were sophomores two years ago when they bought into the program. These kids come in on Saturday and lift with me in the off-season. They've dedicated everything they have to this football program."

One of them is Cervantes, who coolly completed 29 of 38 passes for 258 yards and touchdown passes to three different receivers.

"Trey is maturing very, very quickly," DiMatteo said. "He's a young quarterback who has an enormous upside. I've been blessed with some great ones and he's going to be another one. Everyone of these things will make him better and that's what it's all about."

Cervantes sidestepped any talk of his efforts, instead choosing to focus on his teammates and what happened in the final moments. "Unbelievable team win," he said. "Last week, offensively we had bigger expectations, and this week it was a total team win … offense, defense, special teams everybody did their job. I'm just so proud of the defensive line coming up in that huge situation. We proved we can play with anybody."

The teams started the game by trading touchdowns in the first quarter-plus, before Cervantes broke it open with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Nolan Fortman with 24.7 seconds left in the half. After the halftime break, Cervantes doubled his pleasure with a 39-yard TD strike to Chris Beck that gave the Bison a 27-14 lead.

Schaumburg (0-2) battled back with its own 39-yard scoring play on its ensuing drive, a run up the middle by Kiszkowski that ultimately set the final score.

"I thought we battled hard the last 23 minutes," Stilling said. "I don't care who it is, you can't spot them a two-touchdown lead. I'm proud as heck of how we fought back at the end."

He was also pleased with the yeoman's effort put in by Macneal-Young.

"He's powerful, and he's strong," Stilling said. "I thought he ran the ball extremely hard and that's what we need him to do."

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