Big-play Garrity leads Buffalo Grove

Big plays were abundant in Buffalo Grove's Mid-Suburban League crossover football game at Hoffman Estates' Garber Field Thursday.

The shortest scoring play was the 9-yard run by Hoffman's Michael Reeves that brought an end to the scoring in BG's 41-14 victory.

The Bison (2-2) rode the passing of junior quarterback Mike Garrity, who connected on 17 of 23 passes for 369 yards and 5 touchdowns. He found John Angotti (6 catches, 170 yards) for scoring strikes of 23, 62 and 36 yards and Mike Cornely (5 catches for 114 yards) for touchdowns of 18 and 63 yards.

"He throws a perfect ball and places it in the right spot," Cornely said.

"We have lots of weapons on offense," Garrity said. "My job is to get (the ball) into their hands."

"We were close to 1,000 rushing yards the first three games, and they threw eight guys in the box," said BG coach Jim Farrell. "So we were able to throw the ball."

BG's only rushing touchdown was a 38-yarder by Kevin Mulligan late in the first quarter. Hoffman (0-4) showed its explosiveness when Foyin Alade caught a pass from Bryan Proskey and outraced the Bison defense for a 50-yard score with 25.4 seconds left in the first half, cutting the deficit to 21-7.

Garrity's 62-yard pass to Angotti came with 0.8 seconds left in the half and let the Bison reclaim the momentum.

"We had to stay focused, play hard and not get down on ourselves after the last two games (close losses to Barrington and Palatine)," Angotti said.

Reeves finished with 93 yards in 26 carries and Alade finished with 42 yards on 2 carries to go with his 50-yard TD catch.

"It was encouraging that we held onto the ball," said Hoffman coach Bill Helzer. "Defensively, we can't put ourselves in that position."