Conant collects impressive win
Conant coach Bill Modelski liked just about everything he saw on the football field Friday night in Hoffman Estates.
The Cougars spotted visiting Buffalo Grove a 6-0 first quarter before scoring 35 straight points to lead 35-6 at halftime.
Conant went on to tame the Bison 55-13 in a Mid-Suburban League crossover to improve to 2-0. Buffalo Grove fell to 1-1.
"After they scored," said Modelski, " they got us on our heels. I like the way we responded. We took a very workmanlike approached and were balanced with our offense."
The Bison marched 57 yards on 7 plays to score on Chase Marsh's 2 yard run with 6:47 left in the first quarter.
From that point, the Cougars, with quarterback Kyle Bradley leading the charge, took over.
Conant went 52 yards on 8 plays to score on a Bradley-to-Palmer Graham 28-yard pass with 3:02 left in the quarter.
Bradley, who rushed for 71 yards on 11 attempts, tallied from the 12 on the first play of the second quarter for a 14-6 lead.
Bradley's 4-yard run with 6:23 left in the first half gave Conant a 21-6 lead. Bradley rushed four times on the drive for 29 yards.
"Our offensive line was amazing this week as they were last week," said Bradley. "I hardly got touched. Our receivers and running backs did well because our offensive line did their jobs. We kept our poise and stayed hungry every time we had the ball."
Tom Gosche, Steven Hanks, Tyler Hickerson, Nathan Kawalek, and Tyler Tuttle controlled the line of scrimmage.
The Cougars' defense stepped up as the second quarter was winding down.
Senior defensive back Jack Lunkes came up with a back-breaker play.
Lunkes, who led the MSL West in interceptions last season, returned a Trey Cervantes pass 62 yards for a 28-6 lead.
"I don't know how he does it, but he comes up with big plays," said Modelski.
"After their first drive," said Lunkes, "we adjusted to their offense. We came out this week determined to play better defense than last week against Bartlett. We had a good mental attitude."
The Bison scored in the third quarter when Cervantes (16-for-27, 1 int., 172 yards) found Nolan Fortman for a 35-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 35-13.
Conant bounced right back with Jake Jakubosky (14 carries, 114 yards, 2 TD), who broke loose for a 43-yard run.
Jakubosky scored early in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard run, and reserve running back Bishop Edwards scored from the 8.
Conant finished with 327 yards of offense. Bradley connected on 12 of 18 passes for 95 yards.
The Bison were limited to 12 rushing yards of their 184 total yards.
"They are very, very good," said Bison coach Mike DiMatteo of Conant. "They are very talented and deserved to win. We made every possible mistake that we could make tonight. We had two bad snaps on fourth down that gave them position. We had some dropped passes on key third down plays. When things started going down hill our young players couldn't recover."