Glenbard West turns the lights out on OPRF

Glenbard West was part of a historic night at Oak Park-River Forest on Friday. For the first time in the school's history, the Huskies hosted a night football game.

But the Hilltoppers had no interest in going down in the history books as Oak Park's first win under the lights. Glenbard West came in and took care of business with a decisive 31-12 victory over the Huskies in front of a near capacity crowd to improve its overall record to 4-0 and 2-0 in the West Suburban Silver.

Hilltoppers quarterback Tyler Warden described playing on the artificial turf under the lights as a college-like atmosphere. Warden and his teammates did their best to dim the lights by racing out to a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Warden scored on a 4-yard run on the opening drive. One of his big plays was a 35-yard completion to running back Nick Burrello who had 5 catches for 92 yards.

Thanks to a Billy O'Donnell fumble recovery on a botched punt return by the Huskies, Glenbard West scored 6 plays later on Adam Bruere's 1-yard run. Then, Warden and Burrello connected on a 17-yard touchdown pass play with 11 minutes to play in the second quarter.

Another big play for the Hilltoppers came in the third quarter when running back Trace Sorey scored on a 33-yard sprint up the field.

"We have so many running backs and we can really spread it out," Warden said. "We wanted to establish the throwing game a bit too."

Kicker Tim Hollowed also showed his powerful leg by making all the extra points and knocking him a 25-yard field goal.

It wasn't all offensive for the visitors. Glenbard West's defense stood tall to the potent Oak Park attack. Junior defensive lineman Zach Marshall had a monster game, recording at least 2 sacks and making a few tackles for losses.

"Zach had a great game," said Glenbard West coach Chad Hetlet. "It was a good coming out party for him. He is a heck of a football player. We really wanted out defense to shine. Oak Park has an explosive offense."

"We always want to get pressure on them," Marshall added. "The biggest thing is to stop the run first, but we wanted to get more pressure on the quarterback. That is what we set out to do this week."

Hetlet felt the team did let up a bit after going up early. The Huskies (1-3 overall, 0-2 conference) blocked a punt and scored in the second quarter. They also put points on the board in the final quarter when quarterback Jack Rogalla and Zach Draus linked up on a 45-yard touchdown pass.

"Glenbard West is a very tough team," Oak Park coach Jim Nudera said. "I was proud that we stood up tall and fought them until the end."