Conant denies Hoffman Estates

Walking the field before his team's season-ending game against Hoffman Estates on Friday, Conant football coach Bill Modelski had a smile on his face and a gleam in his eye.

"We're gonna win," he said with confidence as he watched his charges warm up.

Modelski proved prophetic. The Cougars beat Hoffman Estates 24-16 to finish its season 4-5 and 2-3 in the Mid-Suburban West.

The victory also denied the Hawks their first playoff berth since 1994, as they finished 4-5 overall and 1-4 in league.

For all his apparent prognostication abilities, not even Modelski could have predicted the sheer number of big plays his team made to seal the victory.

There was junior linebacker Jack Lunkes' 3 interceptions in the fourth quarter, the last with less than 20 seconds left that stopped a drive deep in Cougars territory.

There was junior Brian Smith scooping up a blocked punt with 8:01 left in the game, which set up fellow junior Jake Jakubosky's second touchdown of the night four plays later, a 2-yard scamper up the middle. Jakubosky finished with 76 yards rushing on 20 attempts, though he left the game late in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury.

And then there was senior kicker J.T. Levitt's 49-yard field goal with 23.2 seconds remaining in the first half that gave Conant a 10-7 lead it would never relinquish.

"We feel like we had some opportunities this season that we let get away from us," he said. "We had no one to blame but ourselves on that, but I just felt like we were going to compete, which is what we needed to do.

"We just wanted to play a good football game and win the game. If you're a football player, you play to win regardless of what's at stake or who you're playing or whatever else. You play to win."

Across the field, Hoffman Estates coach Mike Donatucci and his team were left wondering what might have been.

"It was a good high school ballgame," Donatucci said. "Special teams killed us, and obviously turnovers. We had the chances, and we didn't seal it. That's the bottom line. They (Conant) were playing for old backyard pride, and they took it from us.

"It hurts a lot … these kids have come a long way. We had the power to take the next step and we didn't take it, and that's the part that hurts."

Early on, it looked as if the game would be more akin to a chess match. The teams seesawed between the 20-yard lines for the first quarter and a half, before Hoffman Estates senior quarterback Jeff Mayes dashed up the middle for a touchdown with 4:36 left in the second quarter.

Conant junior quarterback Kyle Bradley immediately responded on his team's ensuing drive, crafting a seven-play, 74-yard drive, culminating in his own 4-yard rushing touchdown at 2:50. Levitt's extra point tied the game at 7-7.

But Levitt was just getting started. With 23.2 seconds left in the half, the left-footed kicker blasted his 49-yarder through the lower right corner of the upright to give the Cougars a 10-7 halftime lead.

They jumped out to 17-7 midway through the third quarter. After recovering a dropped punt on the Hoffman Estates 12-yard line, Jakubosky scored his first touchdown of the night two plays later, a 7-yard run. The best the Hawks could do in the quarter was a 25-yard field goal by junior Keegan Pierce to cut the Conant lead to 17-10.

That set up a wild fourth quarter, highlighted by Smith's blocked punt recovery that led to Jakubosky's second touchdown to give the Cougars a 24-10 lead. Mayes managed to fashion a 67-yard ensuing drive that led to a 20-yard touchdown pass to senior Michael Baureis with 4:51 that set the final score, as the Hawks' extra point attempt failed.

But Hoffman Estates couldn't capitalize on opportunities in the waning minutes. They had a golden one with 2:40 left and the ball on the 50, but Lunkes intercepted Mayes for the second time along the Conant sideline. The Hawks got the ball back at its own 25-yard line with 53.8 seconds and moved it to the Conant 43 before Mayes fired a long pass that Lunkes snared once again with 12 seconds left.

One kneel-down later, and it was over.

"I just had to make up for my dropped punt," Lunkes said, referring to his miscue in the second quarter that led to Mayes' first touchdown. "The guy just did a post, and I happened to be over the top of him and I just grabbed it."

Mayes finished with 16-for-31 passing for 208 yards and 1 touchdown. His favorite target was Baureis, who had seven catches for 119 yards. Senior running back Connor McCreary rushed 13 times for 54 yards.