Fremd 35, Conant 13

Fremd had its final tuneup before entering postseason and its defense and offense were in perfect alignment Friday night.

Fremd gained 440 total yards, while a swarming defense forced 4 turnovers in a 35-13 Mid-Suburban League West victory at Conant.

Fremd (9-0, 5-0) won its third consecutive outright MSL West title and fifth consecutive overall and went undefeated in the regular season for the second time in three years.

"We have a lot of good things going for us," said Viking coach Mike Donatucci of his team's success. "It starts with the staff, then the support we get from the administration, support we get from the student body and community. All that stuff snowballs.

"Then the kids responded."

Senior running back Derrick Walker saw his first extended action after suffering an injury and responded with 129 yards on 13 carries, including touchdown runs of 3, 1, and 6 yards.

Senior quarterback Mark Tolzien completed 15-of-21 passes for 166 yards, including an 8-yard scoring toss to Mike Koeneman (9 catches for 96 yards) and an 18-yard scoring toss to H-back Jeff Bobeck.

"It's nice but we know there is so much more out there," said Tolzien of the Vikings hopes of a title run. "A lot of Fremd teams have done this, we want to do something that no Fremd team has done, that's win a state championship."

The defense responded in the same fashion limiting Conant to 2 first downs in the first three quarters. Ben Perna had 3 tackles for loss and a sack and Kevin Krieter added 2 more tackles for loss and a sack.

"It's awesome," added Krieter of being the MSL West champs. "But we're just giving ourselves an opportunity to go into the playoffs, and our main goal is to win state."

Fremd took a 35-0 lead after three quarters by limiting Conant to 27 total yards.

But Conant (2-7, 1-4) showed a bit of life in the final quarter as Otto Linderman returned an interception 33 yards for a touchdown. After a blocked punt by Nate Campbell, Scott Zari (7 rushes, 49 yards) rambled 30 yards for a score.

"They're hitting on all eight cylinders, we're not," said Conant coach Bill Modelski. "It was kind of indicative of our season."