Bison slip past Hoffman
Instead of letting Hoffman Estates get to 3-0, Buffalo Grove grabbed some momentum for itself Friday night heading into a big game at state-ranked Barrington next week and left Hoffman 3-and-oh-so-close.
In a defensive-minded, rain-soaked game, BG overcame its errors better than the visiting Hawks to score a 24-7 Mid-Suburban divisional crossover win. Both teams are now 2-1, but only one is happy about it.
"We have to take care of a few things," said first-year BG head coach Jim Farrell, after Josh Hampton's 35-yard, slip-sliding, off-balance TD run and Kyle Czarnecki's 37-yard interception return, both in the fourth quarter, turned a 9-7 halftime edge into the winning margin. BG overcame 8 penalties for 80 yards, but used the running of Hampton (12 carries, 89 yards) and Kevin Mulligan (13-79) to overpower Hoffman.
Linebacker Alan Baxter led a defensive effort that held usually more high-powered Hoffman to just 109 total yards. Farrell called Baxter's effort a "coming-out party" for the 6-foot-1, 240-pound senior, who chased Hawks quarterback Frank Wadas all over the place and helped contain runningbacks Foyin Alade and Shamar McFarlane-Ridley.
But Hoffman's defense and special teams did their part. Andrew Petit and Tom Dombrowski teamed up to block two BG punts and the Hawks maintained a territorial and field-position advantage for much of the game, but only capitalized once. Alade scored on a 12-yard run in the second quarter following a bizarre sequence of plays that included a blocked punt and a tradeoff of major penalties on consecutive snaps that left Hoffman in excellent field position.
In the end, though, Hoffman couldn't overcome its own 13 penalties for 81 yards and 2 turnovers.
"It's a tough loss," said Hawks coach Bill Helzer. "Way too many mistakes. We couldn't overcome ourselves. They (BG) had more big plays."
And the goal for BG is to have even more. The way Hampton and Mulligan were running, that could happen.
"They had a great game," quarterback J.P. Kulick said of his premier runningback tandem after his own efficient 7-of-12 effort for 60 yards and no picks in the wet conditions. "And it all starts with the offensive line."
And the defense. "They're the most-aggressive part of our team," said Farrell, noting that even with the all the offensive talent his club has, the defense is still the backbone.
Just ask Hoffman Estates.