Glenbard South clinches playoff berth, stays perfect

Glenbard South steamrolled Riverside-Brookfield Bulldogs 49-14 in a game that was over almost from the start on Friday in Riverside.

The Raiders were in top form as they racked up touchdowns on six consecutive possessions in the first half.

“I thought our kids came out very focused right from the beginning,” said Raiders coach Jeremy Cordell. “We played hard. I thought we were physical and thought we played fast. We always talk about getting off to a fast start and we did that tonight.”

Zach Smith scored 3 touchdowns on runs of 11 and 5 yards and caught a 23-yard strike from quarterback Alex Jeske to pace the Raiders (6-0, 2-0 Metro Suburban Conference). Smith had 107 yards on 11 carries.

“It’s a big win,” said Jeske, who threw 3 touchdown passes. “We don’t take any opponent lightly. We just want to keep moving on. Our offense tries to get multiple guys the ball. Our offensive line did a great job opening up holes for our run game. It helps, because the defense can’t really key on one certain guy when you get the ball to different guys so they don’t really know who the ball is going to.”

The game was never out the control of the Raiders, though they did lose 33 yards on one play.

“We try to limit all the mistakes we can just like any football team,” Cordell said. “We try to be perfect and try be 1-0 each week. It’s all about answering adversity, and they did a nice job of recovery.”

On the opening kickoff of the second half, Clark Gary ran the football back for 75 yards to set up the Raiders’ last touchdown, a 2-yard run by A.J. Gaffney.

“I think I shouldn’t have cut it back or I would have scored,” said Gary, who also caught a 1-yard pass for a touchdown. “It was a really good play, I had really good blocking on it and made a nice cut. We are talking about scoring on special teams and almost took it up to the house.”

Also scoring for the Raiders were Jimmy Ebbole and Jack Curtis. The winning margin allowed Cordell to empty his bench.

“(Riverside-Brookfield) didn’t give up,” Cordell said. “A lot of our kids got in and got quality reps. A lot of our kids had a chance to get better.”

Ryan Swift and Zach Paisker scored late in the game for the Bulldogs (0-6, 0-2).

“We have three weeks together left (in the season) and that’s enough time to bounce back,” said Bulldogs coach Brendan Curtin. “It’s a challenge on many different levels. They know we haven’t played our best football yet, and they know it’s going to come.”