Buffalo Grove 32, Conant 20
When they were on the sidelines Friday night, the Buffalo Grove defensive players were treated to a terrific show from one of their offensive teammates.
"Oh my God," said Bison junior linebacker Kyle Czarnecki. "It was one of the best feelings watching him (junior Josh Hampton) run. I got the shivers."
Who didn't?
All Hampton did was zig-zag his way to 366 rushing yards on 21 carries including touchdown runs of 73, 69, 50 and 31 yards, to help the Bison shake free from a stubborn Conant club for a 32-20 Mid-Suburban League crossover win in Hoffman Estates.
Following a fumbled snap on a punt which gave Conant the ball at the Bison 1, Cougars running back Scott Zari scored and the hosts led 20-12 with 5:05 left in the third.
However, the Bison (1-1) answered with the final 20 points of the game.
It started with Hampton's 73-yard TD burst in which he reversed steps near midfield and left a slew of tacklers on the chase.
With 10:24 left, quarterback John Bakun tossed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Matt Stadler for a 25-20 lead. On the play, Bakun received the same superb protection from the line that was making life easy for Hampton.
Gilbert Morquecho, Joey Busse, Chris Hedrick, Matt Rosenberg, Marc Damish and Zach Wodka were the men up front.
"I could not have down it without them, period," Hampton said. "They did everything. They were tired, yet they kept pushing. So I did, too."
Czarnecki came up with defensive stop of the game when he tackled Conant quarterback Tom Houle on fourth-and-3 with 4:39 left at the Bison 22.
Five plays later, Hampton raced 50 yards to set the final score with 2:06 left.
"Josh can't do what he did without the guys up front," said BG coach Rich Roberts. "Chris Hammer (wide receiver) did a good job blocking, too. And I thought Johnny Bakun (7-for-14, 68 yards) did a nice job.
"This is a Buffalo Grove win where we hung in there with the offense and the defense pulled it out for us."
Touchdown runs by Sean Smith (8 yards) and Houle (7 yards) gave Conant (0-2) a 13-12 halftime lead.
"We had some opportunities but we didn't take advantage in the second half," said Conant coach Bill Modelski. "Our quarterback (Houle) had a nice game. He's a pretty good little runner (81 yards) but we've got to be able to throw better. We are not where we want to be. We're young and we have work on execution."