Natick, Glenbard North run wild in win over Oak Park-River Forest
Glenbard North's Evin Natick has waited his whole life to make his varsity football debut. He got his chance on Saturday afternoon against host Oak Park-River Forest and made it pretty unforgettable.
Natick, who will split time in the backfield with Devin Harkins this season, made quite an impression as he carried the whole load with Harkins on the sidelines with a knee injury.
Natick ran the ball 39 times for 249 yards, caught 2 passes for 89 yards and scored 3 touchdowns as the Panthers went on to win 33-21 in a nonconference season opener.
"Today we really ran the ball effectively," Glenbard North coach Ryan Wilkens said. "He really took the game over. What can I say, the kid is a baller."
Natick had touchdown runs of 1, 2 and 6 yards and had 5 plays of 20 yards or more.
"What I really wanted to do was see how fast the varsity level was," Natick said. "After the first couple of carries I think I was able to make some adjustments and help myself and the team out. I've been waiting a very long time for this opportunity."
The Panthers (1-0) got on the board halfway through the first period as Tom Trafficanti hooked up with Austin Siperly on a 30-yard touchdown score on a fourth-and-13 play where Siperly went up into the air and took the ball from the defender. North built a 14-0 lead a few minutes later, but it wasn't all clear sailing after that.
OPRF (0-1) took a 21-20 lead right after halftime as Devin Banks intercepted a Trafficanti pass and took it back 70 yards to grab the lead, sending the home crowd into a frenzy. For the day the Panthers turned the ball over five times while forcing two turnovers themselves.
But that one defensive play did not rattle the Panthers as they were able to grab a 26-21 lead on a 6-yard toucdown run by Natick.
The play that really sealed the win was made by a defensive player. That player was Brandon Salemi, who ended up jumping an out route and taking it to the end zone 68 yards later to put the game out of reach. The interesting thing on the play was that Salemi, who was an all-conference cornerback, was playing safety at the time.
"During halftime the coaches told me that I was going to be playing some safety," Salemi said. "When I was running the ball back I had the quarterback to beat and I kept hearing the sidelines for me to make a cutback to get past him. I did, and he fell down and I was able to get in. I would have been pretty upset if I tried to make a dive to the pylon and came up short after all that running I did."