Antioch goes the distance against Glenbard South

Griffin Hill saw Antioch take a "punch in the face" from Glenbard South on Friday night, and he sure sounded excited about how the Sequoits responded.

Antioch overcame a fourth-quarter deficit to grab a 24-20 nonconference football victory in Glen Ellyn, with Hill scoring on touchdown runs of the longest and the shortest possible distances.

"That's a big win, and against a really quality program," Antioch coach Brian Glashagel said. "... When you look at the schedule for us, you know they're one of the top teams on our schedule that you kind of circle in the off-season. Like, man, we've got to go down to Glenbard South and play a really good team."

The Sequiots made the long trip worth their while, though.

A Jose Hernandez punt pinned Antioch back on its own 1-yard line midway through the third quarter, but Hill busted loose for a 99-yard touchdown run.

"The hole was getting clogged right up the middle and one of my teammates just hit me to the side and I saw the opening and I was like, hey, look, it's open," Hill said. "I started sprinting and the guy was chasing me, but I just wanted to get to the end zone so bad. I really wasn't thinking about how far away we were. I just kept sprinting."

Not to be outdone, Glenbard South senior Andrew Wrona responded in kind almost immediately, taking the kickoff 99 yards the other way to put the Raiders in front again 14-10.

"That was huge," Wrona said of the momentum swing. "They just scored 99 yards and I knew I had to do something to get the team back in the game. Once I saw that hole, I knew. I knew I was gone."

"I was still kind of hyped up from the long touchdown run, but it's kind of like a punch in the face," Hill added. "I had faith in my teammates. Plays happen like that all the time. You see it in college, you see it in the NFL."

Antioch (1-1) regained the lead for good with 10:54 left in the fourth quarter on Alan Taylor's 40-yard touchdown run up the middle. When Glenbard South fumbled the snap on a punt attempt on the next possession, Antioch took over on the Raiders' 6-yard line. Three plays later Hill scored again, this time from merely a yard out.

Again Glenbard South (0-2) responded, this time with the offense going on its first sustained drive of the second half. Quarterback Kyle Carli found Tyler Scott in the end zone for a 9-yard TD pass with 2:24 to play in the game.

But after getting the ball back on downs, the Raiders couldn't get another drive going, a fourth-down pass falling incomplete deep inside Sequiots territory.

"We've played some solid defense over the last few years, but that is some championship-type defense there when the pressure is on and you win it on defense," Glashagel said. "That's pretty nice."