Fremd 27, Buffalo Grove 14

If you thought Fremd looked good Friday night in beating Buffalo Grove 27-14, wait until the Vikings get all their starters back.

"It was like a MASH unit," Viking coach Mike Donatucci said of missing half of his 1-2 punch at running back (Derrick Walker) plus two offensive linemen (Christian Lombard and Kevin Fallon), and then having one more go down with an injury during the Mid-Suburban League crossover in Palatine.

At 4-0, the Vikings are hoping to start MSL West play next week at Barrington with everyone intact.

Then again, with Mike Gyetvay gaining 97 of Fremd's 108 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns, things didn't look too dreary.

"He's carried the load the last two weeks," said Donatucci. "Michael's very strong, very coachable. He doesn't say too much. He's about the team doing well."

And he does say a few things.

"It was an important game," said the 187-pound junior, considered the power back in tandem with speedster Walker. He too recognized the contribution of the backups.

"It was a great way to get the '2s' in with our '1s,'" Gyetvay said of the team blending together. "It was one of our best weeks of practice."

They needed it to be. Despite a 21-0 halftime lead and a decided field-position advantage that resulted in no Fremd TD drive being more than 43 yards, BG (1-3) stuck around.

"We had the Bison fight in our football team," 34-year veteran coach Rich Roberts said after an interception return to Fremd's 3 by James Bakun produced a 1-yard TD run by Matt Brichetto.

And a fumble recovery produced a terrific fade pass reception for 6 more by Caleb Farina from John Bakun.

But the game was out of reach by then. In addition to Gyetvay's TDs, Andrew Corso, just back from injury, was wide open on a 31-yard TD pass from Mark Tolzien (8-for-13, 95 yards, 2 touchdowns) in the second quarter.

And Mike Tauchman made a spectacular 48-yard punt return for a fourth-quarter TD. It was all the more special, Donatucci noted, because Fremd had a punt-block on and Tauchman did much of the work himself, without a lot of blocking, especially initially.

"People get up for us. We have to bring our game," Donatucci said.

BG hopes to be the rest of the way as it begins MSL East play.

"Now we start for real," Roberts said. "We've been working our kids. They're working hard."