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Glenbard West steps up against Bolingbrook

Go ahead and focus all your defensive attention on Sam Brodner.

Isaiah Skinner will be waiting right there to take advantage.

Glenbard West opened the football season strong with Saturday's rain-soaked 28-7 victory over Bolingbrook in Glen Ellyn.

The start of the game was delayed for more than an hour because of lightning in the area, and the grass surface at Duchon Field turned into a muddy mess pretty quickly. The Hilltoppers responded by pounding the ground game 43 times at Bolingbrook, which did a nice job bottling up Vanderbilt-bound Brodner.

That allowed Skinner to shine. While Brodner finished with 58 yards on 25 carries, Skinner added 85 yards on 12 carries.

And after Bolingbrook grabbed momentum by pulling within 14-7 on a touchdown late in the second quarter, Skinner responded with an 82-yard kickoff return for a score that boosted Glenbard West's lead back up to 21-7.

"I'm sure they were focused on Sam, but I came through the middle and just went hard - speed and trying to get around the corner on them," Skinner said. "I think that's what really helped Sam get his plays and me get my plays, too."

Glenbard West's defense - led by linebackers Nico Gagliano and Ross Andreasik, who snared 2 interceptions - limited Bolingbrook to 124 total yards. The Raiders' lone touchdown came on a 1-yard run by Lucas Warren after a bad snap on a Hilltoppers punt attempt set up Bolingbrook at the 10.

Other than that one miscue, Glenbard West maintained control of the game.

"That's a good football team," said Ohio State-bound Bolingbrook linebacker Tuf Borland. "We've got a lot of improvement to do and we're going to do that and we'll get ready to go for Week 2."

Despite the poor field conditions, Glenbard West's biggest offensive plays came from the passing combination of quarterback Brian Cochrane and receiver Crystian Maciorowski. Their 22-yard connection gave the Hilltoppers their first touchdown, and a 63-yard pass set up the final touchdown in the third quarter on a 1-yard Brodner run.

Brodner also scored on a 2-yard first-quarter run to give Glenbard West a 14-0 lead.

"Anytime you can play Bolingbrook with the defense they put together and the coaching they get and the kids that they have, we're excited to be coming out of the game with a win," said Hilltoppers coach Chad Hetlet. "I was just happy the way we played. We had a couple of errors, but for the first game we didn't have a ton of errors."

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Images: Bolingbrook vs. Glenbard West football

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