Highland Park outlasts Libertyville
A couple of 5-5 prep football teams in 2017 clashed for a 2018 opener Friday night.
Highland Park visited Libertyville, and the score after four quarters?
Even, at 21-21.
HP - under first-year head coach David Lindquist, who played for Illinois in the 2008 Rose Bowl - emerged a 28-27 winner in overtime behind a big-time effort from senior running back/linebacker Tom Motzko. The Giant rushed 38 times for 213 yards and 4 touchdowns.
The host Wildcats had a chance to win it near the end of regulation. A missed 18-yard field-goal try banged the left upright. A blocked extra-point attempt by HP senior Kevin Kaufman preceded the Giants' OT tally.
Libertyville scored its first TD of the season on a 77-yard pass from sophomore Blake Ellingson to Jack Turco at 9:39 of the second quarter. Ellingson's 16-yard TD toss to Brian Stacy and Sean Wittenbrink's extra point knotted the game at 21-21 with 3:26 left in regulation.