Glenbard East captures rivalry victory against Glenbard South

The proximity between Glenbard East and Glenbard South was enough for the Great American Rivalry Series to come to Lombard on Friday as the Upstate Eight East rivals met.

The fans who showed up were treated to some old-school grind-it-out football as the Rams pulled off a 20-12 win over the Raiders.

“I think guys are excited to see growth in our program,” said Glenbard East coach John Walters, whose team started 0-2. “We play a good team — we finally found a way to come out on top.”

Both teams’ first-quarter scores were affected by something either before or after. Montii Perry got the Rams (3-2, 2-1) to the red zone with a 64-yard run on the game’s first possession, but they had to settle for a 21-yard field goal by Moises Velazquez.

Later in the quarter, Tommy Bauman (118 yards on 10-of-28 passing) hit Jordyn Warren for a 10-yard touchdown and the lead, but the Raiders (3-2, 2-1) promptly were penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct, resulting in a missed point-after kick from a farther distance.

Midway through the second quarter, Glenbard East got new life when Glenbard South was given a defensive holding penalty and took full advantage of it. After a series of solid gains, it went back in front when Perry ran the ball into the end zone from the 1-yard line.

With the Rams nursing a 10-6 lead at halftime, it still wasn’t clear who would take home the trophy and medal as the MVP of this Great American Rivalry Series game. They got a little more confidence that the MVP would be on their side.

Glenbard East’s first drive of the second half frequently saw Carter Pohlman connect with Malachi Miller in the air. This continued until Miller got all the way to the 1, though the Raiders just barely managed to keep him from scoring.

That was OK though because Perry immediately got his second touchdown from there, also clinching MVP with 180 yards on 24 carries.

Glenbard South struggled to get anything going offensively for much of the second half, and its efforts were hampered by an interception early in the fourth quarter. The defense mitigated that by holding the Rams to a Velazquez 32-yard field goal, keeping it a two-score game.

The Raiders finally put together another strong offensive drive as Bauman found Anthony Baldauf for a 6-yard touchdown with 3:14 left. But once again, they couldn’t tack on the extra point.

A bad snap on a Rams field-goal attempt on the subsequent possession put the Raiders on their own 43 with one last attempt to keep the game alive. However, the Rams held tough on defense to claim the trophy and winner’s caps for the Rams.

Although Glenbard East won, mutual respect remained.

“There’s always a lot of emotion within the game,” Glenbard South coach Ryan Crissey said. “I know these kids respect each other. Coaches respect each other. So it’s a good rivalry. We’ll wait ’til next year.”