Glenbard East defeats rival Willowbrook

There were times on Friday when Glenbard East and Willowbrook seemed to be playing Arena Football, with all the passes, total yards and points scored.

At other times it very much had the look of a neighborhood rivalry game between two schools that have opened the season against each other for 11 straight seasons.

Glenbard East raced to a 21-0 halftime lead and emerged victorious in a 42-21 nonconference contest.

"We played a good game, scoring 21 points in the first half and 21 in the second half and only giving up 7 points in the first three and a half quarters," Glenbard East coach John Walters said. "I think there is a toughness that our guys have and they are starting to buy into what we want to do."

Key throughout the contest was the play of Rams quarterback Philip Abruzino. His passing numbers - 22 of 33 for 333 yards and 2 TDs - were impressive enough. But he also never had more than two incompletions in a row before leaving the game in the fourth quarter.

"It's hard to quantify the growth in a player from his junior to his senior year," Walters said. "(Abruzino) just grew leaps and bounds. He put the ball where he needed to put it and commanded the offense, and that's what we need of him."

The Rams have won eight of the 11 games in the current series with Willowbrook and have won three in a row.

"We have guys who have grown up in Lombard and played football together and then gone to Willowbrook," Walters said. "It is a great rivalry. The communities are right next to each other and everybody knows everybody."

Down 21-0 at halftime, Willowbrook continued to try to mount a comeback. An interceptions, 2 lost fumbles and 70 yards in penalties hurt the Warriors.

"I will give the kids credit for battling in the second half," Willowbrook coach Nick Hildreth said. "We really just failed to execute in a ton of spots over and over again. That can't happen if you want to beat good football teams."

The Warriors never cut the lead to less than 14 points but were trying to score even in the final minute of the game.

"We'll look and see we're at on film - the eye in the sky never lies," Hildreth said. "Our execution was poor in a lot of spots. I don't question our effort at all."