Zion-Benton rolls ahead in North Chicago's return

After North Chicago's depleted team played its first four quarters of football since the opening night of the season, its tired and defeated players still had the energy to give coach Glen Kozlowski the answer he most wanted to hear.

The Warhawks' return to action was hardly triumphant Friday night, as host Zion-Benton rolled up 351 rushing yards en route to a 42-8 win in a North Suburban Conference crossover between the two rivals.

But Kozlowski could at least take solace in the attitude his players displayed on and off the field on a night when not much went right for the visitors.

"The thing that I was going to ask the kids at the end was if they gave 100 percent," Kozlowski said. "If they could answer yes, I was satisfied.

"Every kid said yes."

While North Chicago (0-4) stayed winless, the victory for Zion-Benton (1-3) was its first since Week 2 of the 2007 season. The Zee-Bees had gone 19 straight games without a win.

"Monkey's off our shoulder, finally pumped the water out of the hose," said Z-B's Michael Braswell, who along with fellow running back Jaevuan Moton scored a pair of touchdowns.

"We're ready to go. Confidence is up."

It wasn't necessarily a perfectly executed game, despite the Zee-Bees' proficiency on offense (they never punted). The teams committed a combined 26 penalties for 225 yards.

North Chicago was playing without more than a dozen players after its much-publicized on-field field with Simeon two weeks earlier. That game was stopped in the first quarter (Simeon was declared the winner), and then the IHSA also made the Warhawks forfeit their game against Vernon Hills last week.

"We had a lot of kids out and a lot of kids playing new positions," Kozlowski said. "With that, you're going to have some mistakes."

Zion-Benton took a quick lead on Moton's 36-yard touchdown run, before North Chicago got a safety when a bad snap went into the Zion-Benton end zone and the Warhawks' Trey Ford made the tackle.

But Moton (9 carries, 110 yards) scored from 14 yards out, and Braswell caught a 17-yard TD pass from Eric Pasiewicz to give the Zee-Bees a 21-2 lead at halftime.

Braswell capped a 14-play drive on the opening possession of the second half with a 3-yard touchdown run, and the Zee-Bees never stopped.

"I thought when we started winning they were going to start talking off the mouth," Braswell said of the Warhawks. "But they kept it well. They didn't say anything. They played with sportsmanship. Everybody played with sportsmanship, and that's how football is supposed to be."

Z-B got a pair of fourth-quarter TD runs from backup Michael Taylor (51 and 5 yards), before North Chicago scored late on Keenan Handy's 22-yard run.

"Part of the process is the accountability," Kozlowski said of his players. "I'm not ashamed of what the final score is. I'm proud of how hard they fought."