Garrity, Walker help Buffalo Grove hold off Conant
Buffalo Grove quarterback Mike Garrity provided the offensive heroics and linebacker Charlie Walker the defensive heroics. Behind their efforts, the Bison staved off a late rally from Conant to preserve a 21-18 senior night win in the Mid-Suburban League crossover.
"It's a win," said Garrity who rushed 32 times for 169 yards and 3 touchdowns. "It wasn't a real satisfying win, but it was a team effort. We rallied around each other, and when you do that it's hard to lose."
The Bison (2-1) defense had their fourth-quarter moments in snuffing out two threats from the Cougars (2-1).
Matt Zabrin came up with two tackles for short losses at the Conant 46. On fourth down a bobbled snap forced Cougars punter John Maevski to run, and he was stopped for an 8-yard loss.
Two plays later, from the Conant 35, Garrity maneuvered his way through the defense for a touchdown and a 21-12 lead.
Conant then drove 82 yards in 8 plays to score on quarterback Matt Cullen's 35-yard touchdown pass to Mark Zielinski with 3:10 left to cut the lead to 21-18.
The Cougars' conversion attempt failed as had the other two attempts on previous scores.
"We talk about the kicking game and how important it is," said Conant coach Bill Modelski. 'We just had some breakdowns on defense in our secondary. We got away with it the first two weeks but not tonight."
Conant's last chance started at its own 15 with 1:54 left in the game.
Cullen moved the Cougars to their 47. On second down, Walker came up with a strip of the ball and Zabrin recovered at the Conant 35.
"I was told by our defensive coach to blitz," said Walker. "I saw an open window and I took off. All I know is that I hit him (Cullen) hard and we got the ball. Tonight the defense really played together as a team."
"That plays was the exclamation mark for Charlie," said Bison coach Jim Farrell. "Charlie is fast and agressive. He makes the most of everything he can.
"What can you say about Garrity? He's a great athlete and he's not afraid to sell out to get every yard he can."
Conant struck first when Maevski blocked a punt at the BG 30-yard line.
Cordell Clark scored on the first play from the 9 and a 6-0 lead. Clark suffered a knee injury late in the fourth quarter.
Garrity engineered a 60-yard drive and scored from the 5-yard line with 2:25 left in the first quarter for a 7-6 lead following Brian Akialis' first of three conversion kicks.
Garrity made the score 14-6 when he did a somesault over the goal line from the 1 with 10:48 left in the first half.
Conant closed to 14-12 with 3:14 left in the half on Cullen's 10-yard run.