Glenbard East celebrates 3-0 start
The quarterbacks on both sides of the ball were all the Glenbard East football team needed Friday night.
On offense the Rams got 3 rushing touchdowns from senior quarterback Brett Bushka, along with a scoring pass to senior running back Billy Gotsch.
On defense senior linebacker Anthony Shockey - the quarterback of the defense, according to Glenbard East coach John Walters - had an interception return for a touchdown and a fumble recovery. He also caught a 2-point conversion pass from Bushka.
The result? A 50-14 Glenbard East victory, to improve to 3-0 overall and in the Upstate Eight Conference. West Chicago fell to 0-3 overall and in league play but scored its first points of the season on a banner night from senior receiver Mike Wagner. He had 8 catches for 130 yards and a touchdown.
The game was a good tuneup for Glenbard East, which will face two undefeated conference teams in the next two weeks, first West Aurora and then South Elgin.
But there was plenty of time to worry about all that later.
"Right now, we're focusing on celebrating our victory to make us 3-0 - it's the first time since 1999 at Glenbard East we've done that," said Bushka, who went 10-for-17 passing for 143 yards, along with 55 yards on the ground. "We've got 24 hours and on Sunday we're going to get set for West Aurora."
Just 24 hours?
"If you stop and don't really celebrate, it isn't fun, it's more like a business," he said.
But the Rams were all business on both sides of the ball, especially in the second quarter, when they ran up 28 points. That included a 7-yard touchdown pass from Bushka to Gotsch, a 35-yard run by Gotsch, a 9-yard run by Bushka and an 11-yard run by senior back Jake Netchin.
That gave Glenbard East a 36-0 advantage at the half, but the Rams weren't done. Not by a long shot.
Bushka opened the third quarter with an 8-play, 65-yard drive that culminated in his own 16-yard touchdown run on a sweep right. He shook two tackles, then carried another tackler into the end zone.
West Chicago got the ball back and marched to the Rams' 35 before Shockey got his hands on a pass from junior quarterback Luke Krogh and returned it 70 yards for a touchdown that put his team up 50-0.
"This was my second one of the season," Shockey said. "Every time I get an interception, I black out. I just run like crazy. I just trust my guys to lead me to the end zone, and I put up 6 for the second time this year and it was very exciting."
After two shutouts to start the season, new West Chicago coach Jack Rustman saw signs of life from his offense in the second half, which was encouraging. Krogh went 13-for-27 passing for 167 yards and the touchdown pass to Wagner.
"We're getting positive," Rustman said. "Week 1 we were abysmal, learned from it. Week 2 we were so close to the end zone, and this week we put two scores up. We're getting somewhere."