Festive evening as Hersey handles Buffalo Grove
Hersey's homecoming fans were treated to all kinds of pomp and circumstances at Roland Goins Stadium on Friday night in Arlington Heights.
There were fireworks, sirens, stage performances and music.
"What a night," said Huskies senior defensive end Teddy Fotos, who along with his teammates helped make the night a complete success with a 35-14 win over visiting Buffalo Grove in the Mid-Suburban East football game.
"We're finally getting back to our team play," Fotos added. "Once we click, we are rolling and I wouldn't want it any other way. This win was most importantly about us playing together as a team."
The Huskies (3-3, 2-0) even employ a team concept at the quarterback position, where senior Tommy Jackson and sophomore Owen Goldberry share the snaps.
Throwing behind linemen Spencer Krueger, Clayton Smith, Mitch Carlisle, Jack Steines and Sean Johlie, Jackson was 5-of-9 for 75 yards while Goldsberry was 3-of-3 for 45 yards.
"Both those guys give us one-two punch and have been working well together," said Hersey coach Joe Pardun. "And for most of the night, the defense played well."
Getting a spark from Fotos, outside linebacker Grant Warner and defensive end Krueger, the Huskies were able to keep the Bison out of the end zone until 8:53 remained in the game.
Trailing 28-0, Bison QB Trey Cervantes threw a 4 -yard TD pass to Thomas Kelly.
The Bison attempted an onside kick, which the Huskies' Sebastion Jackowski recovered at the Hersey 46.
Five plays later, Jackson hooked up with Matt Abfall for a 41-yard strike to the Bison 2-yard line, and Luke Cecala ran into the end zone on the next play to make it 35-7 with 5:45 left.
Cervantes marched the Bison right back and threw a 4-yard TD pass to Nolan Fortman to make it 35-14 with 2:49 left.
BG (1-5, 0-2) tried another onside kick and Abfall recovered it to seal the Huskies' win.
"The game swung in the first quarter," said Bison coach Mike DiMatteo, whose offense held possession of the ball for all but six plays in the opening period. "We had two straight possessions in the red zone and we came away with nothing. You're not going to beat anyone doing that. We had too many errors.
"Joe's (Pardun) defense was solid like it always is. But this should have been a better game for us."
Hersey's first TD came in the second quarter on a 1-yard run by Daniel Blair with 6:36 left.
A 3-yard TD run by Jackowski made it 14-0 with 18.8 seconds left in the half.
The lead ballooned to 21-0 on Cecala's 4-yard TD run with 6:32 left in the third quarter and expanded to 28-0 on Goldsberry's 11-yard TD pass to Zach Cooper with 10:30 left in the game.
"I thought Grant Warner had a really good game and was solid all-around," Pardun said. "Spencer Krueger plays both ways and prepares so well. And Teddy (Fotos) had some good rushes off the edge."
Hersey visits Elk Grove next week while Buffalo Grove hosts Wheeling.
"There are some things we still have to clean up because every game is a battle in the East." Pardun said. "But I am proud of the way we came out and executed this game."