Grant 29, Vernon Hills 28

Grant goes for it

The monkey-see, monkey-do had gotten old.

And the coaches at Grant were anxious to break the pattern.

When the Bulldogs scored a touchdown on a 16-yard pass from Pavel Zurkowski to Tommy Bychowski with 34 seconds left in Friday's barnburner with Vernon Hills, the decision not to kick the extra point was made swiftly.

One point would have simply tied the game. And Grant didn't want to just match Vernon Hills again.

So the Bulldogs decided to go for the 2-point conversion. On the road. At someone else's homecoming.

They bucked the odds.

After a Vernon Hills penalty pushed the ball to the 1ˆ½-yard line, Zurkowski followed a surging offensive line and plowed his way into the end zone for the 2 points that made the difference in Grant's 29-28 North Suburban Conference Prairie Division victory.

The win keeps the Bulldogs perfect at 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the Prairie.

Vernon Hills, which entered the game as the only other unbeaten team in Prairie action, drops to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the division.

"We thought that if it went any further, we could lose the game," Grant coach Kurt Rous said. "I was just afraid that if they got the ball back we weren't going to be able to stop them, especially if the game went to overtime."

Throughout the game, Grant had a hard time stopping Vernon Hills; and Vernon Hills had a hard time stopping Grant.

The two teams matched each other touchdown for touchdown from the start of the game.

Monkey see, monkey do. One team scored, the other one did the same thing.

The game was tied 14-14 at halftime and again at 21-21 at the end of the third quarter.

Tyler Mooney gave Vernon Hills a 28-21 lead with 3:20 remaining in the game when he scored on a 6-yard run.

But Grant came charging back on its next possession thanks to a big fourth-down conversion on a run by Zurkowski.

A couple of nice completions by Zurkowski then set the table for his clutch toss to Bychowski in the end zone.

"We ran a slant. We knew they'd bite on it," said Bychowski, who caught 7 passes for 114 yards and 2 touchdowns. "Pavel pumped it and I just ran to the corner of the end zone and made a play. It was a beautiful throw.

"He threw the ball great all night."

Zurkowski (10-for-18, 146 yards) also ran the ball well, too. He rolled up 102 yards on 18 carries and saved his best work for last.

"I didn't really know where I was (on the 2-point conversion), but I figured I surged enough to get in the end zone," Zurkowski said. "It feels great because I want to get the ball at the end of the game."

Zurkowski said he was a bit surprised that the coaches decided to go for 2 points on the road, but he wasn't about to question it. Neither were his teammates.

"When you're on the road, sometimes you've got to try to make a statement," Bychowski said. "We think we're the best team. We had to win it. We weren't going for a tie. We had to win it right there.

"It came down to the last play and we made a play. Now we know that when it's rough, we can come through and make plays. We're not going to crumble."

Vernon Hills certainly didn't crumble -- even after Grant's huge 2-point conversion coup.

With only 34 seconds left, the Cougars moved the ball and got to midfield. But, led by defensive back Brandon Bushing, the Grant secondary forced 4 incompletions to end the game.

The Cougars were trying to get the ball into the hands of freshman sensation DaVaris Daniels, who caught 5 passes for 63 yards, including an 18-yard touchdown earlier in the game.

"(DaVaris) did a great job and was having a lot of fun out there," said Vernon Hills coach Tony Monken, who brought Daniels up to the varsity last week. "It was a heck of a football game. Both teams played their butts off and we wound up a little short."