Buffalo Grove's defensive delivery stops Hersey
Injury-depleted Buffalo Grove knew it would need a tremendous effort from its defense to defeat visiting Hersey on Friday night.
The Bison "D" delivered in a big way.
BG forced 5 turnovers, including two that stymied fourth-quarter Huskies drives, in a 14-7 Mid-Suburban East homecoming victory.
Hersey fumbled into the Bison end zone and saw a pass picked off at the 2 in the final quarter.
"We came to play tonight," said Bison quarterback Richie Zirngibl, who rushed for 105 yards and also recovered one of the critical fumbles late in the game from his safety position. "This was a show of unity. The entire team came out and played for one another."
Hersey sophomore quarterback Quinn Orlandi completed 21 passes for 222 yards in the loss while running back Chris Polinski caught 11 passes for 130 yards.
"They didn't stop us we stopped ourselves," said Hersey coach Dragan Teonic. "Turnovers were key tonight. Our coaches had the right plays called and we executed them well, but you've got to hold on to the football."
After Hersey (3-3, 0-2) opened the scoring in the first quarter on a 1-yard plunge by Erik Stoltzner, BG came right back to tie the score on a thing of beauty, a 50-yard scoring run by Zirngibl that saw the quarterback break several tackles and juke past a couple of Huskies defenders.
The score stood 7-7 midway through the fourth quarter when Hersey drove to the Bison 3.
Then the Huskies fumbled on next play into the end zone where Zirngibl scooped up the loose ball for a touchback.
BG (3-3, 1-1) took the lead on a long fourth-quarter drive behind some power blocking by linemen Trevor Chandler, Alex Festenstein, Kalvin Booker, Joe Damisch and Keith Jones, and the running of Tyler Juckett (7-yard TD run.)
But the Huskies wouldn't quit, coming back behind a 49-yard pass play from Orlandi to Polinski to take the ball deep into Bison territory with under a minute remaining.
"After we scored that second touchdown," said Damisch, "we knew they weren't going to just give up. Our defense came up with some huge plays and got to the quarterback."
Damisch had 2 crucial sacks from his defensive line position to help thwart the Huskies drive, and a last gasp Orlandi pass for the tie was picked off at the goal line by linebacker Brian Akialis.
Zach Johnson rushed 20 times for 86 yards for Hersey. Juckett had 48 yards on the ground, including the clinching TD for the Bison.
"We're done hanging our hat on excuses like we've got players out (because of injury)," said BG coach Jim Farrell. "Most of the time the team you start out with during two-a-days during the summer isn't the same team you play with during the season anyway.
"Everybody has players out this time of the year. Each of the guys we have on the field now has a job to do, and they responded and played hard. The kids out on the field tonight kept fighting to the end."