Conant wins a wild one at Buffalo Grove
Conant had the upper hand, let the game get away and reclaimed it — all in the final minute.
The visiting Cougars let a 28-0 halftime lead evaporate into a 31-28 deficit with 59.9 seconds left to an invigorated Buffalo Grove, yet Conant still found a way to put the winning touchdown on the board.
With just 1.1 seconds remaining, Kevin Smith scored on a 2-yard run to give Conant the 35-31 Mid-Suburban League crossover football victory at Grant Blaney Stadium on Friday.
Smith drove the Cougars (2-1) 67 yards in the final minute after BG quarterback Trey Cervantes put the Bison ahead for the only time on a 10-yard run.
Big plays were passes from Smith to Palmer Graham for 45 and 17 yards, the latter giving Conant first and goal at the 5 with 31.3 seconds remaining. After an incompletion, Smith picked up 3 yards. He spiked the ball to kill the clock with 7.2 seconds, and on fourth and goal, he managed to cross the goal line for the winning score.
After Jake Jakubosky (17 carries, 88 yards) scored on its opening drive on a 33-yard run, Conant turned a pair of interceptions into first-half touchdowns, the first a 25-yarder by Graham to give Conant a 14-0 lead with 3:50 left in the first quarter.
“I was in the right position,” Graham said, “and got a block from Carl Hahn.”
Matt Mills grabbed a deflected Cervantes pass and returned it 22 yards for a score that upped the margin to 21-0 with 10:27 left in the half.
Smith and Graham connected on a 52-yard bomb for a score with 2:01 left in the half that made is 28-0. That, however, is the end of Conant's scoring until the final second.
“The QB put the ball in a good place,” Graham said. “The ball was a little slippery tonight (with the rain). I just had to concentrate on the ball.”
“Obviously, at the half, we felt pretty good,” Conant coach Bill Modelski said. “We capitalized on some mistakes they made.
“But we kind of stopped playing,” Modelski said. “I wasn't sure we had it won until the clock hit zero. I don't feel real good, but we'll take the win and move on.”
“We were completely out of sync in the first half,” BG coach Mike DiMatteo said “We didn't do what we practiced.
“At halftime, we settled them down and said to play our game but to play harder and a lot more physical.”
In the second half, BG's Dan Levato (10 carries for 102 yards) scored on runs of 36 and 46 yards, and Marlo Johnson scored from 2 yards out to cut the deficit to 28-22.
Conant took a safety with 2:22 left to gain some field position in the hope of stopping the Bison (2-1) from taking the lead, but that was not to be.
Cervantes directed a 57-yard, 6-play drive that included a pair of passes to Mike Kleczynski for 27 and 5 yards. On fourth and 1 from the 10, Cervantes scored on a read-option run.