Goldsberry, Hersey light it up in shutout of Z-B

The main scoreboard at Hersey's Roland Goins Stadium wasn't ready for Friday night's season opener.

But the Huskies sure were.

With a much smaller back-up scoreboard in place behind the north end zone, Hersey put up some big numbers en route to a 41-0 triumph over Zion-Benton.

Huskies quarterback Owen Goldsberry came out more than ready for his senior season, rushing for touchdowns of 13, 8 and 14 yards and passing for three more to Sean Watters (34 yards), Timmy Somary (17) and Kacper Rutkiewiscz (31).

Goldsberry, who also punted three times, had his big opening night behind linemen Will Ebert, Ryan Derrig, Brendan Watson, Austin Korba and Jake Mailloux.

"I've got a great team, I can trust everyone," Goldsberry said. "The line did a fantastic job. Without them, we are nothing. They gave me time. They did everything I could ask of them."

Hersey coach Joe Pardun said he asked Goldsberry to try and not do too much.

"And I think he didn't," Pardun said. "He was just playing his game and I was just proud of how we was handling himself out there."

The Huskies' defense handled itself quite well, tossing a shutout while limiting Zion to 45 yards passing and 87 yards rushing.

"The defense was flying around and that's what we wanted," Pardun said. "They were consistent, even in the second half. We got our entire football team in the game tonight and that's what I am most proud of."

Goldsberry's final TD strike, a perfect 31-yard pass to Rutkiewicz, who caught it on the run toward the sidelines and raced into the south end zone, began a running clock with 2:20 left in the third quarter.

Watters and Somary also caught the ball on the run on well-executed touchdown plays.

"My receivers did a great job getting open and running routes," Goldsberry said. "I just have to get the ball to them."

"I think he (Goldsberry) is pretty good quarterback," said Zee-Bees coach Robert Moynihan. "We just weren't prepared from our practice on Thursday. Our team is young and we are learning. Chalk this one up to inexperience."

Hersey is ready to move on to next week when its visits Hoffman Estates.

"We're excited to build off this," said Goldsberry, a D-I recruit who passed for more than 1,000 yards last fall and ran for more than 500.

Also helping open up things for Goldsberry's passing game was the running of Luke Cecala. He rushed for 73 yards on 13 carries, including two big runs on the Huskies' first possession which set up Goldsberry's 13-yard TD run which capped a 75-yard drive to open the game.

Scott Tangney kicked the first of 5 straight extra points for a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.

The Huskies' defense came right back and forced a three and out.

Rutkiewicz had a big punt return to the Zee-Bees' 34 yard line and Goldsberry needed just four plays to get the Huskies back in the end zone.

He found Watters on a fourth down play from the 34-yard line for the TD that made it 14-0 lead with 5:29 left in the opening quarter.

Hersey's defense recorded its only turnover three plays later when Cecala made an interception near midfield.

"Obviously, we wanted to get some momentum early," said Pardun, whose team scored twice in the first quarter and led 28-0 at half. "I felt like we could do that if we played clean football. And we did at the beginning. Obviously we kept it going, so that was good.

"It was a good team win. That was the fun part."

Hersey's defense recorded its only turnover of the game three plays later when Cecala made his first interception of the season.