Grant 29, Antioch 20

Only one team remained undefeated after host Grant met Antioch Friday night in the North Suburban Conference Prairie Division opener for both squads.

And despite an impressive opening scoring drive by Antioch, the host Bulldogs took a 22-6 lead late in the second quarter of the offensive battle.

From there it was a real struggle, but Grant (3-0, 1-0) scored a late touchdown to seal a 29-20 victory over the Sequiots (2-1, 0-1).

Antioch's Lamarr Pottinger opened the scoring when he hauled in a 48-yard touchdown pass on a halfback option play from Cameron White with 5:35 remaining in the first quarter.

But the momentum quickly shifted to Grant as the Bulldogs marched 60 yards in 13 plays with quarterback Pavel Zurkowski scoring on a 1-yard plunge to tie the score at 6-6 with 29 seconds left in the first quarter.

Then came an amazing play as Antioch had marched down to the Grant 12-yard-line only to see Grant senior Jordan Welter strip Antioch quarterback Matt Romani of the ball before Welter raced 90 yards with the fumble recovery for a 12-6 lead with 8:34 left in the first half.

A 2-point conversion pass from Zurkowski to Tommy Bychowski made the score 14-6.

The Zurkowski-to-Bychowski connection would work again with only 1:22 left in the second quarter as Bychowski caught a 22-yard TD pass breaking over the middle before a 2-point conversion run by Zurkowski made the score 22-6.

But the Sequoits responded quickly with a 35-yard pass from Romani to Pottinger putting the ball on the Grant 20.

Then, after a short run, White took a pitch and made some great moves running right for an 18-yard TD run. The 2-point conversion run failed keeping the score at 22-12 at halftime.

After a Grant punt, Antioch scored on an 85-yard run by White as White (113 yards rushing) cut back across the field after a missed tackle by the Bulldogs. The 2-point conversion run by Ken Karagiorgas cut the lead to 22-20 just 2:57 into the third quarter.

"It was a playoff atmosphere and that is what we knew we would get," said Antioch coach Brian Glashagel. "We had the ball with a chance to win it in the second half, but Grant did a good job of running so much clock it seemed like our offense was on the field forever."

Zurkowski (177 yards rushing) appeared to be stopped for a short gain, but he would break away from the defense for a 56-yard TD run and a 29-20 lead with 24.5 seconds to play.

Romani threw for 139 yards overall while Grant's Israel Rodriguez rushed for 50 yards on 20 carries.

"That was a great play by (Welter) and it's a good feeling to be 3-0," said Grant coach Kurt Rous. "Our offense is turning into our best defense and we're doing a good job of eating up the clock."