Vernon Hills extends shutout streak to 7 against Grant
Grant had a great chance of breaking Vernon Hills' season-long scoreless streak in the final minute of Friday night's North Suburban Prairie Division game in Fox Lake.
Grant's Steven Niewiedzial attempted a 45-yard field goal that was on line, but a slight breeze came up and the football fell in front of the crossbar.
For Vernon Hills (7-0, 5-0), it marked 7 straight games without giving up a single point. The Cougars escaped with a 20-0 victory, clinching the NSC Prairie for the second straight year.
"I was told by my special teams coordinator, Tim Dydo, that (Niewiedzial) couldn't make it from that distance, so we didn't go after him," Vernon Hills coach Tony Monken said. "We played it safe because we thought Grant was going to call a fake."
Vernon Hills' Dustin Rusch forced a 9-yard loss on third down with a sack, pushing the Bulldogs back to the Vernon Hills 28-yard line.
"I was unblocked the whole time and nobody touched me," said Rusch, who also had a couple of fumble recoveries. "I knew I would get to the quarterback because there was no one there.
"We wanted to keep the shutout streak going, and we dominated the entire game."
The Cougars forced Grant (3-4, 2-2) into 7 turnovers (6 lost fumbles) and 98 total yards, all on the ground.
Grant had its defense in overdrive all game long. The Cougars couldn't get going offensively and totaled just 32 yards. In fact, Vernon Hills were held to minus 20 yards in the first half.
"Give Grant credit. Their defensive line handled us in the first half," Monken said. "We had to make some adjustments on how we were protecting. Grant took it to us and punched us in the mouth. We didn't bring it offensively, and hopefully we learned something from it. I hope it gets better this week. We had to regroup at halftime."
The Cougars finally got going thanks to DaVaris Daniels' 85-yard punt return with 6:05 left in the second quarter.
"It started with me taking it to the outside and I made a guy miss," Daniels said. "It opened up for me and then I broke it."
Cougars fullback Brian Palmer (11 carries, 39 yards) added a pair of second-half touchdowns. Palmer scored on a 4-yard run with 1:01 left in the third and got the other with 9:30 remaining in the final quarter.
Grant's defense was led by Quinton Quarles with 5 sacks. Charles Williams and Nick Jones also stood out.
"Our defense played out of their minds," Bulldogs coach Kurt Rous said. "They played unbelievable. I thought we played well enough to win. We did everything we wanted to do, but we did things to cost us the game."
Grant played without starting quarterback Leo Minne, who missed his second straight game with an ankle injury. Backup QB Alex Villa did not play because of a team-rule violation. Sophomore Nick Fanella and Alex Cacchione split time at quarterback.
Vernon Hills' Ohio State-bound Evan Spencer sat out with a strained muscle.