Glenbard West offense gets busy against York
The York football team has been somewhat of an upstart this season, having already recorded as many wins as it had a year ago.
But reality set in Friday night against visiting Glenbard West.
The lesson? The West Suburban Silver title is probably going to go through Glen Ellyn.
The Hilltoppers raced out to a 24-0 halftime lead en route to a 45-24 victory to improve to 3-1 and 1-0 in conference.
Glenbard West rolled up 510 total yards on a terrific night by senior running back Tyquan Cox, who rushed 10 times for 169 yards before tweaking his left knee early in the third quarter.
But by that time the game was well in hand.
Cox had a pair of touchdowns, including an 83-yard scamper with 50 seconds left in the first quarter. He added another 64-yard run early in the third that set up junior teammate Joey Richmond's 1-yard run. On that 64-yarder he hurt his knee after getting caught from behind as he made his way to the end zone.
"We know what we have on our side and if we execute every time like that, there is no team in the state that can hang with us," said Cox, who added 16 receiving yards on a pair of catches.
Cox's first touchdown opened the floodgates for the Hilltoppers. He added a second score, a 5-yard run, with 7:22 left in the second quarter, culminating a 10-play, 66-yard drive.
Senior quarterback Tommy Bleker got into the act with a 15-yard scoring pass to senior receiver Corey Williams with 3:36 left, then senior kicker Logan Ryan added a 37-yard field goal for good measure at the halftime buzzer.
Whew.
"I think everything was working for us," Glenbard West coach Chad Hetlet said. "We ran the ball extremely well, we passed the ball extremely well. I thought we did well defensively. I think York's kids were scrappy and did some good things. But I'm happy with how our guys played."
It wasn't all roses for Glenbard West, though. The team racked up 16 penalties for 155 yards.
York proved it has plenty of talent at the quarterback position. Senior Joseph Javorek was the starter but got knocked out of the game on a tough hit from Glenbard West senior linebacker Jayden Rogers midway through the first quarter.
No problem. Fellow senior Daniel Dunn came off the bench and completed 19 of 26 passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns. His favorite target was senior tight end Antonio Munoz, who had 6 catches for 76 yards.
"That's what I've been saying all year - we don't have a one and a two, we have two ones," said York first-year coach Mike Fitzgerald. "I wasn't fazed at all. (Dunn) is just a great teammate, an unbelievable person and is prepared every week. I had 100 percent confidence in him."
Even though it was a loss, albeit to a conference heavyweight, Munoz himself wasn't fazed by the sudden adversity.
"We just go back to what we did all summer long, effort and attitude," Munoz said. "We have to keep doing what we do - working hard, and playing hard and moving forward."