Conant picks off Schaumburg

After a well-executed punt from John Maevski pinned Schaumburg on its own 6 with three minutes to go, Conant needed just one more stop.

As they did all night, the Cougars' defenders came through to preserve a 21-14 victory over the Saxons on Friday night at Charles O. Feutz Field.

The win ensured Conant (6-2, 2-2) will be heading back to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. Schaumburg (4-4, 2-2) will be fighting to extend its season for a fourth straight year next week at Barrington.

Saxons quarterback Stacey Smith started the decisive drive with a completion to Mike Mallet, but on the next play, Conant's Danny Lampert made a diving interception with 2:24 left to end Schaumburg's chances.

"The series before, (defensive coordinator Tony) Wolanski said that if I drop in the flat, I'm going to get a pick," Lampert said. "The first play that I dropped into the flat, there it was. I read it well and it just kind of fell in my hands."

The Cougars struck first, thanks to a 41-yard pickup from Matt Cullen to Manczko (184 total yards), which led to Manczko scoring from 3 yards out to take a 7-0 lead. Cullen later hooked up with Tom Zidek (4 catches, 56 yards) for a 32-yard touchdown to increase the lead to 14-0 with 1:21 left in the half.

But the story of the game was Conant's defense, which played big the entire game and held the explosive Smith to 165 total yards.

"He's very elusive," Manczko said. "We contained him and made tackles when we needed to."

Led by Maevski, who repeatedly broke up plays in the Schaumburg backfield, Conant's defense was able to box Smith in and keep him from getting outside the pocket.

Smith was able to showcase his athleticism at times, such as when the sophomore raced down the left sideline for a 20-yard touchdown with 10 seconds left in the first half to cut the Saxons' deficit to 14-7.

"That kid is lightning in a bottle," said Conant coach Bill Modelski. "We preached all week about keeping your shoulders square or he is going to make you look bad."

The Cougars used Cullen and Manczko at quarterback and ran the Wildcat at times to give the Saxons a different look. The strategy worked to perfection at the end of the third quarter when Manczko raced 48 yards to give Conant a 2-touchdown cushion.

"The coaches agreed that this was our best week of practice all year," Lampert said. "We were really prepared. They threw some curveballs at us and we just kept fighting."

One of those curveballs was in the fourth quarter when Schaumburg appeared to be punting but successfully pulled off a fake when Nick Anzelmo found Greg Bockman for a 12-yard gain on fourth-and-10.

The trick play led to Smith eluding defenders in the pocket and hitting Brandon Kibby in the back of the end zone to cap off a 12-play drive and draw Schaumburg close at 21-14 with 7:19 left in the fourth quarter.

Now, Schaumburg must beat Barrington in order to become playoff eligible.

"The bottom line is that if we don't take care of the football and you tackle the way we tackled, you don't deserve to win," said Schaumburg coach Mark Stilling.