Leyden 24, Willowbrook 21

On paper, it looked as if Willowbrook was the favorite at Leyden on Friday night.

After all, the Warriors were a Class 7A state-ranked team a week ago.

On the field, it appeared to be something different.

The Eagles gave the home fans their money's worth on Friday night as they were treated to some exciting football and a 24-21 West Suburban Gold comeback win in Northlake.

And Leyden (4-1, 3-0) remained in the game the entire way and looked as if it belonged there.

"That's a great win for us -- holy cow," said Leyden coach Tom Cerasani. "I think we did come in as the underdog. They had some good kids -- they were big up front. But I'll tell you what: our kids had a lot of heart tonight and that came through."

Going into the fourth quarter down 21-14, the Eagles put together a long steady drive after the Warriors gave up the ball on downs.

The conservative drive lasted 18 plays, more than seven minutes and took advantage of two Warriors' penalties at separate third-and-goals from well inside the 10.

Finally, senior running back Josh Serrano poked into the end zone on a 3-yard carry to tie the game at 21-21 with 4:11 to play.

After holding the Warriors to just four plays on the following drive, Leyden had another chance and Serrano (36 carries, 134 yards) marched the football to the 9 to set up Mike Feldmann's 26-yard go-ahead field goal with 40 seconds left.

"Josh is a special kid," Cerasani said. "He plays 100-percent on every snap -- offense and defense. He never came off the field tonight. He's unbelievable. To me, it's the best game he's played all year."

The ensuing drive ended with a T.C. Cartwright interception as the clock ran down.

"It's the second (win) that came down to the last second, Cerasani said. "That's big."

Willowbrook (3-2, 1-2) played just as solid a game and mounted its own comeback in the third quarter.

Down 14-7, the Warriors wasted no time on their first drive. On the fifth play, Wayne Bolden caught a 60-yard bomb from QB Kevin Pohl -- their second TD connection of the game -- to make it 14-14.

The Warriors went ahead 21-14 on their next possession that ended with Pohl's 7-yard toss to Emilio Salinas.

"They had a great team. Leyden did a great job," said Willowbrook coach Mark Olson. "They played hard and did some good things. We didn't capitalize when we needed to and (Leyden) made some big plays."

Leyden's first 2 touchdowns were the result of passes of 80 and 37 yards from quarterback Tim O'Connell to Sam Cochiaro. O'Connell collected 188 yards in the air. Cochiaro caught 4 of those for 135 yards.

With the momentum in their favor, the Eagles are going to focus on next week.

"We're going to take it one game at a time," Cerasani said. "We've got Proviso East next week. They're a good football team. We'll see what happens."