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Hersey's ground game too much for Elk Grove

Hersey went ground and pound to earn a share of the Mid Suburban East title Friday in Elk Grove.

The Huskies amassed 372 rushing yards as Hersey chewed up Elk Grove 42-0.

The win earned Hersey (8-0, 4-0) at least a share of the East title. The Huskies can win it outright with a victory next week over Buffalo Grove.

"We have great character kids," said Tom Nelson, who is in his first year as head coach of the Huskies.

"We have elite character in the whole program and it showed tonight. We were ready to play. We feel we can do whatever is best to win the game. We are going to do that and play smart football."

Hersey scored the first four times that it had the ball in the first half. They were able to dominate the line of scrimmage thanks to the work of Will Nolan, Zach Ott, Joe Maher, Kyle Trajano and Lucas Hessling.

"We went into the game knowing what we wanted," said Ott, who is a senior. "We just went out there and executed. We are a passing team, but when we put up these numbers on the ground you look back and that is a great day for us."

Brett Kersemeier was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the work of the offensive line. Kersemeier, who is a senior, rushed for a career-high 178 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown.

"We had a great game plan going in," Kersemeier said. "My line was opening up holes for me all night. I just did what I did to make the holes count and get as many yards as I could."

Hersey rushed for 232 yards in the first half. The Huskies scored their first three touchdowns on a 9-yard run by Carter Hansen, a 6-yard run by Charles Meister and a 1-yard sneak by Colton Gumino.

Then, with the Elk Grove defense up close to the line of scrimmage, Hersey went deep for another score. Gumino (4-of-6, 92 yards) connected with Carson Grove on a 48-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-0.

The Huskies were able to send the game to a running clock early in the fourth quarter on a pair of second-half touchdowns.

Hansen, who rushed for 65 yards on eight carries, scored his second touchdown of the game on a 1-yard sneak. Kersemeier closed out the scoring on a 4-yard touchdown run.

The Hersey defense, led by Ethan Sather, Oleg Simakov, Carson Grove, Meister and Johnny Ryg, posted its second consecutive shutout and fourth this season. The Huskies limited Elk Grove (6-2, 2-2) to 79 yards rushing and 131 yards of total offense.

"I think we have been playing Elk Grove football up until this point," Elk Grove coach Miles Osei said. "Tonight we did not. We need to get back to playing our style of football. That is the biggest lesson we can learn here."

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