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Buffalo Grove takes pride in winning finale

Buffalo Grove football coach Mike DiMatteo could not have been prouder of his senior group Friday night.

"When I came in three years ago, they are the ones who made a decision to stay together, work hard and follow the program," he said. "I'm very proud to see them having winning a record."

The Bison's first winning record since 2009 was sealed when senior linebacker-safety John Maddox intercepted a third-and-14 pass at the Bison 11-yard line with 1:35 left.

Maddox then lined up at running back and took off on a 34 yard gallop, then a 5-yard run before the Bison ran out the clock for a 14-10 come-from-behind victory at Wheeling.

"He's been there for us all season," DiMatteo said of Maddox. "He's been 'that guy' and supports the whole group around him. He's the guy we are glad is on our team."

A team that wouldn't quit despite trailing 3-0 at half and 10-7 after three quarters.

Junior Nolan Fortman ran a sideline pattern and caught a 27-yard TD strike in stride from classmate Trey Cervantes for the touchdown that gave BG a 14-7 lead with 3:36 left in the game.

The Bison defense, with the help of its front four of Tommy Gillespie (end), Brendan McKinney (end), Alex Horvat (tackle) and Miguel Martinez (tackle), then kept Wheeling (3-6, 1-4) out of the end zone to give BG its 5-4 record (3-2 in the Mid-Suburban East).

"It feels awesome," Maddox said. "We hadn't beat Wheeling for a long time. Coach DiMatteo said he wanted to build a program, and we definitely have done what he said."

Wheeling started its final drive at its own 35 and marched as far as the Bison 27 before Maddox came up with his first interception of the season.

"The guy (intended receiver) went in motion so I picked him up," Maddox said. "I stayed with him and then I heard from the sidelines 'ball!, ball!' so I turned around and it was right there."

Mike Kleczynski and Johnny Asquini also had interceptions for the Bison, who limited Wheeling to 1 touchdown.

That TD - a 3-yard run by Isaac Branch with 1:29 left in the third quarter - capped a 50-yard drive in which the Wildcats converted a fourth-and-6 from the 33 with a 15-yard pass from Amani Dennis to Charlie Zettek.

Wheeling was slowed down by 13 penalties in the game by for 159 yards.

"Same story," said Wildcats coach Brent Pearlman. "There's obviously a discipline issue and that's something we'll have to address."

Dennis, who rushed for 136 yards and passed for more than 100 on Friday, finished a stellar career by compiling nearly 1,900 yards for passing and rushing combined this season.

"It probably wasn't his best game, so you hate to see him go out like that," Pearlman said. "But Amani played with tremendous courage all season."

Cervantes also had an 87 -yard TD strike to Chris Beck in the third quarter. He completed passes to five different receivers, including Tommy McSorley, Jimmy Trieb and Maddox.

Providing the protection were T.J. Johns, Aaron Schubert, Anthony Barra, Joe Biagi and Ricky Strba.

"It was a good finish and pretty much showed the character of these guys," DiMatteo said. "They never say die. They have a lot of fight and I'm very proud of everyone, especially the seniors."

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