Vernon Hills trumps Niles W.
There was plenty of excitement on both sides Friday night in host Vernon Hill's season-opening football game against Niles West.
The visiting Wolves jumped out to a 13-0 lead just 6:58 into the contest, but the Cougars would bounce back with a vengeance as they scored 26 unanswered points to take a 26-13 lead into halftime in this non-conference battle.
The second half was much more of a defensive struggle as the Cougars outscored Niles West 7-6 to secure a 33-19 victory.
After a 47-yard touchdown run by Niles West's Leonard Panion gave the Wolves a 13-0 lead Vernon Hills senior quarterback P.J. Marsek responded with a 33-yard keeper down the right sideline before Brian Smith's extra point made the score 13-7.
A great defensive stand by the Cougars set up their next scoring drive as Niles West quarterback Nick Gremley was thrown for a 3-yard loss on fourth-and-4 from the 4 early in the second quarter.
Seven plays later, Marsek would hit sophomore standout DaVaris Daniels for an 18-yard scoring play in the right corner of the end zone as Daniels leaped over Niles West defensive back Joel Cohen to haul in the TD catch and deadlock the score at 13-13.
Vernon Hills' high-powered offense continued to roll late in the first half as senior running back Ernie Choi broke right before going 68 yards down the right sideline for the TD and a 20-13 lead 5:22 before halftime.
A bad snap by the Wolves on a punt gave Vernon Hills the ball on the Niles West 25 as Choi would break off an 11-yard run before his 14-yard TD run made the score 26-13 with 2:51 left in the second quarter.
"We started off a little slow, but the offense started picking it up and the defense got us some stops," said Marsek, who threw for 113 yards. "We had a bunch of different guys contribute in the running game and I was a little bit off in the passing game but it was only the first game."
After a 73-yard pass play, the Wolves cut the lead to 26-19 on a 1-yard keeper early in the second half.
But a 2-yard TD run by Sebastian Evans boosted the lead to 33-19 with 7:03 left in the third quarter to close out the scoring.
The Cougars compiled 423 yards of offense led by the rushing of Evans (138 yards), Choi (126 yards), and Marsek 72 yards. Daniels caught five passes for 79 yards.
Panion rushed for 164 of his 194 yards in the first half while Gremley threw for 212 yards overall on 11-for-24 passing.