Cox, Glenbard West defense a winning combination

Glenbard West stuck with a familiar formula Saturday afternoon at Duchon Field.

Why not? It's working.

"I think we're starting to really kick it into all cylinders right now," Hilltoppers coach Chad Hetlet said after his team's 41-7 victory against Lyons Twp.

The Hilltoppers gave the football to running back Tyquan Cox, and the senior responded with 5 touchdowns, including a 96-yard kickoff return to open the West Suburban Silver game in Glen Ellyn.

"That got us going really well because our pregame speech was just about coming out fast and just right away, blowing them out of the water right away," Hilltoppers senior linebacker Otis Neavins said. "And LT, that's not a team that we should take lightly. Last time we were here (two years ago) they beat us on our field, so we were like, we're not going to let that happen again. No way."

Then the Hilltoppers let their defense in on the fun. Glenbard West (5-1, 3-0) held Lyons Twp. (1-5, 1-2) to minus-4 yards rushing, forced nine punts and picked off two interceptions.

"We were just preaching coming out fast this week, coming out hard, stopping the run," Neavins said. "Our game plan that coach Hetlet set up for us was working really well."

Neavins also contributed to the scoring, returning an interception 75 yards for a touchdown and a 21-0 second-quarter lead.

"That was our first defensive touchdown of the year. I just had to get that," he said.

The only defensive blemish for the Hilltoppers was a 43-yard touchdown pass from LT quarterback Blaise Reichert to Chris Clarke on the final play of the first half.

"I was disappointed we gave up that score right before half, but I think we played great defense," Hilltoppers coach Chad Hetlet said. "I thought we played really sound against the run. We came into it with a couple of starters out with injuries and I thought our backups that came in played extremely well."

  Glenbard West's Tyquan Cox celebrates his touchdown to open the game against Lyons Township Saturday in a football game in Glen Ellyn. - John Starks | Staff Photographer

In addition to his kickoff return, Cox scored on touchdown runs of 1, 12, 19 and 3 yards before leaving the game like most of the starters after the third quarter. He finished with 127 yards rushing on 18 carries, plus 28 yards receiving on 4 catches.

"He's an explosive player," Hetlet said. "I think he's as explosive a player as there is in the state. He gets his hard yards.

"Everybody sees him running, but he's a very good blocker. He's a great teammate. He's a great leader. There's a lot of other intangibles that he is other than being an electrifying runner. But yeah, he's really special."

The Hilltoppers travel to Hinsdale Central next Friday, then host Oak Park-River Forest in Week 8.

"We've got a couple of wins in a row, but these next two weeks will be the real test in our conference to see where we stand, how good of a team we actually are," Neavins said.