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Football wrap: Buffalo Grove, Hersey, Prospect all open with wins

Buffalo Grove, Hersey and Prospect all traveled to the Far South suburbs to open their respective seasons. It turned out to be a very productive trip for the trio of Mid Suburban East teams Friday night.

Buffalo Grove 41, Lincoln-Way Central 0:

Michael Cervantes' first start at quarterback was an auspicious one. The junior showed he is a dual threat, rushing for 213 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown. He also was 4-of-8 for 111 yards., which includes an 80-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Pond.

"He had a real good day," Buffalo Grove coach Jeff Vlk said. "We have had him up since he was a freshman. He took backup reps and got a chance to play some and he was comfortable right away."

The Bison bolted to a 21-0 halftime lead on 3-yard touchdown run by Scott Murray (12 carries, 55 yards), a 48-yard run by Cervantes and 3-yard run by Cole Nixon (10 carries, 61 yards).

Buffalo Grove, which had 441 yards of offense, poured it on in the second half. Pond caught a long touchdown pass, Murray scored again on a 3-yarder while Johnny Perot completed the scoring with a 19-yard interception return. It was one of three interceptions by the Bison defense which surrendered just 138 yards of offense to Lincoln-Way Central.

"We are just so experienced on defense with 10 players coming back," Vlk said. "Our first practice was like the last day of Spring."

Hersey 28, Lincoln-Way West 7:

The Huskies went down to New Lenox and hit the Knights hard. Senior quarterback Jimmy Makuh threw 4 touchdown passes and ran for a conversion as the Huskies took care of a Lincoln-Way West team that has qualified for the playoffs the last 10 years that they have been held.

"Jimmy looked comfortable in the pocket," Hersey coach Joe Pardun said. "His vision is much better and he made very good reads."

Dylan Carlquist caught a pair of touchdown passes, Breyden Smith broke open in the end zone and Makuh was able to find him while Ben Clawson had a long catch-and-run scoring reception for the Huskies.

"I was really impressed with our poise and our experience," Pardun said. We wanted to pinch ourselves a little bit. But in the end, we played the way we expected. "

Prospect 37, Sandburg 14:

After a season where scoring came nearly at will, Prospect needed a bit of time to adjust to its new personnel. And once they did the Knights exploded. Leading 10-7 at the half, Prospect scored 27 unanswered points in Orland Park.

"We started a little slow and we anticipated that," Prospect coach Dan DeBeouf said. "There were lots of new faces on offense. But once we got our feet underneath us, the offense took off."

Frank Covey, who was making his first start at quarterback, stepped into the position quite nicely. He threw three touchdown passes, two to Brad Vierniessal and one to Owen Walter. Covey also had a touchdown run.

Defensively, Prospect played quite well. Ben Sahakian had a couple of sacks and Peyton Burgh sparked the defense with a fumble recovery in the end zone.

"It is good to start off with a 'W" and get some momentum," DeBoeuf said.

Downers Grove North 24, Hoffman Estates 21:

Jashawn Johnson had a superb night for Hoffman Estates. But the Hawks came up a little short in their trip to Downers Grove.

Johnson, who is committed to Western Michigan, had 8 catches for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns. He caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Nate Frank and a 65-yarder from Aidan Cyr (13-off-22, 162 yards). Yoshua Pettis-Taylor had a 47-yard touchdown for the Hawks.

"We had too many mental mistakes," Hoffman Estates coach Tim Heyse said. "We have some young kids that are playing. And they had that deer in headlights stare. But the kids played hard. We know we will get better."

Niles West 38, Maine East 9:

Maine East ended the Spring season with a loss to Niles West. Unfortunately for the Blue Demons, the Fall season began the same way as Maine East increased its losing streak to 33 games.

Highland Park 26, Leyden 3:

Leyden dropped its season opener in Northlake to Highland Park.

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