Vernon Hills blanks Larkin

Even though Vernon Hills was starting Friday night's nonconference game on offense it was the starting defense which got the nod for pregame introductions against visiting Larkin.

The Cougars' defense earned the postgame spotlight as well. They thwarted five trips inside their 20 and came away with 4 take-aways as they improved to 2-0 with a 21-0 victory at Rust-Oleum Field.

"Our biggest deal is we play really well together and believe in each other," said Vernon Hills senior two-way lineman John McDonald. "The thing that has carried us so far on defense is how well we play together."

Andrew "Chick" Smith and Vincent McNemon recovered first-half fumbles at the Cougars' 25 and 16. Kyle Hull separated the ball from a Larkin

(0-2) receiver and senior Jeff Echevarria snagged it for an interception.

Smith and linebacker Trey Hommer each had 2 tackles for losses, McNemon and Kyle Fasbinder each had a sack and a stop for a loss and Max Lyle and Luke Perlin had tackles for losses.

"They played good last week and when we needed someone to step up our defense picked us up," said Vernon Hills coach Bill Bellecomo. "We had more than enough opportunities but I thought their kids did a phenomenal job of stepping up when they needed to and we did not," said second-year Larkin coach Dragan Teonic. "We played much better defensively than we did in a long time ... and we battled a lot better than we had in a long time, so I'm proud of that."

Kindrel Morris had an interception and Nayan Sallis recovered a fumble for the Royals. Ty Former blocked a punt and recovered it to give them a chance to tie the game in the first quarter at the Vernon Hills 9.

But Nick Marras, Lyle, McNemon and Hommer combined to stop three running plays for 5 yards and a fourth-down pass from David Hibbler (20-for-35, 200 yards, 17 carries, 70 yards) was incomplete.

"We had so many opportunities given to us that we didn't capitalize on and we have nobody to blame but ourselves," Teonic said. "We have to finish and compete and fight and we didn't have that tonight."

Vernon Hills got all the points it needed on a game-opening 7-play, 57-yard drive that took just 2:01. Connor McNamara (22-for-39, 224 yards) hit Andres Salazar with a 2-yard touchdown pass.

McNamara's 6-yard touchdown pass to Chris Mariella (7 catches, 93 yards) capped an 84-yard drive 1:24 before halftime. And then on fourth-and-2 at the Larkin 17, McNamara lateraled to Hull, who found Mariella in the end zone with 3:42 left in the third.

"We were talking about it on the sideline and thought it was the perfect opportunity for us," Bellecomo said of giving his junior backup quarterback a chance to throw. "In practice I get QB reps and I'm always throwing," Hull said. "It was kind of a trick play."

Hull said preserving the shutout "was a big deal" as the Cougars executed what Bellecomo said was the plan of making Larkin drive the entire field. Marras made a diving breakup of Hibbler's pass for A.J. Hunter (15 catches, 147 yards) at the goal line with 3:39 to play.

"'Chick' (Smith) kept saying, 'Keep the shutout, we've worked for this,'" McDonald said. "The guys at the end did a great job. Even 'C-Mac' (McNamara) was saying, 'Good job D, keep it up,' when we came off the field. He's a great leader."