Conrad, Addison Trail deny Leyden

Addison Trail junior Darrion Conrad said he knew that visiting Leyden was going to go for 2.

The junior defensive back and his Blazers teammates had watched the Eagles march down the field in the waning moments of Friday's West Suburban Gold game, scoring with 6.8 seconds left to come within 14-13 of AT.

Then Leyden lined up for what looked to be a game-tying extra point kick - but Conrad noticed something wasn't quite right.

"I saw the kicker walk up and say something to the holder," said the junior, "so I turned around and yelled to my middle linebacker, 'it's a fake.' "

Conrad not only called it, he had the foresight to make the game-saving play as well.

The junior rushed the Leyden kicker, who had taken a direct snap and drifted to the left for a game-winning pass attempt, and tackled him just as he was trying get the pass off.

The ball fell harmlessly to the ground and seconds later AT was celebrating a hard-fought 14-13 homecoming win.

"I knew right from the start that it would be a fake," said AT senior linebacker Angelo Crededio of the conversion attempt. "We actually had several guys lined up wrong, but Darrion stepped up and did his job."

Most of the damage offensively was done on the ground by both teams, as Blazers running back Michael Hundley rushed for 168 yards and 2 touchdowns while his Leyden counterpart, David DeMarais, ran for 137 yards.

"Addison Trail played tough," said Leyden coach Tom Cerasani, "and I thought our kids played tough as well. We gave a great effort on defense, but we gave up too many big plays."

The teams traded scores in the first half, as Hundley found the end zone early on a 69-yard run right up the middle, then DeMarais tied the game with a 12-yard touchdown run.

Hundley broke through again in the third quarter on a 27-yard off tackle romp - then, paced by the play of Credido and the booming punts of Stevan Jones, AT held Leyden (2-3, 1-1) in check until 3:38 remained in the contest.

That's when the Eagles went on an 80-yard drive, scoring on a pretty pass from quarterback Michael Wilms to Jalen Moore, who tiptoed the back of the end zone to make the catch.

Then came the ill-fated conversion try.

"We had a new kicker, said Cerasani, "so I didn't want to put the whole game on his shoulders. I felt like we had a pretty good plan (for the 2-point try) after watching film, but obviously it didn't work out."

Leyden had one last shot, but a final onside kick attempt was covered by AT (3-2, 2-1).

Blazers quarterback Ryan Zygowicz threw for 91 yards, including a big 41-yard fourth-quarter completion to Jones.

"This is a huge confidence win," said Zygowicz, a senior. "Our defense was great, and we got great line play tonight. We were able to improvise and make some plays, just like our coaches have taught us to do."

"A homecoming win," added the senior. "Love it."