Vernon Hills takes control
Visiting Vernon Hills was able to display a lot of its weapons on both sides of the ball Friday night as the Cougars headed into Niles West for their 2009 football season opener.
It didn't take long for senior linebacker EJ Lannan to show why he's a standout as Lannan picked off a pass by Niles West's Tyler Rosell before racing for the touchdown 4:14 into the contest.
That was just the tip of the iceberg for Vernon Hills (1-00 as the Cougars led 35-0 at halftime before cruising to a 42-12 nonconference victory over the Wolves.
Junior DaVaris Daniels started the game at quarterback for Vernon Hills and he hit junior teammate Evan Spencer with a 41-yard scoring strike down the right sideline for a 14-0 lead on a 4th and 13 play with 6.3 seconds left in the first quarter.
After a Daniels interception near midfield, sophomore Steve Nelson took over at quarterback at the next possession deep in Niles West territory. Nelson hit Spencer over the middle with a perfect strike for a 15-yard TD on third down with 10:31 left in the second quarter, the third of five first-half extra points by Zach Kisley made the score 21-0. Sophomore Jarrett Wood also got into the act as he forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff with the Cougars taking over on the Wolves' 17. Six plays later Brian Palmer scored from one yard out for a 28-0 advantage.
Sophomore quarterback Tyler Peterson started Vernon Hills next scoring drive at the Cougars own 25-yard line. Daniels would scoop up his teammate's fumble on second down and race 49 yards for the TD for a 35-0 lead with under two minutes left in the first half.
"I'm always trying to do a lot for my team, the coach has put me in a position where I can make plays and I just play to the best of my ability," Daniels said. "It's exciting to see how we react to real game situations and our defense looked good all night."
Midway through the third quarter, Nelson rolled right on third down, threw the ball up high and Daniels went up and hauled the pass down for a 19-yard TD catch in the right corner of the end zone for a 42-0 lead.
"I think it's a great thing we have young guys who can step and play the positions we need them," Nelson said. "But it was a team effort and everybody came out and played great."
The Wolves scored two TDs in the final 16 minutes under a running clock.
"We know we have some talented weapons, but we have only been practicing against ourselves," said Vernon Hills Tony Monken. "It's going to be part of our offense to have the big play, and we know Daniels and Spencer are special and I thought defensively we played great."