Conant sees big season come to an end in first round of Class 8A playoffs

Conant’s resurgent season came to an end Friday night in Flossmoor.

After a home opening-round playoff win over Dundee-Crown last week, Conant head coach Anthony Donatucci’s squad earned a trip to Homewood-Flossmoor (8-2), where they dropped their Class 8A first-round playoff game with the Vikings by a final score of 35-7.

A competitive first half found the Cougars (7-4) in a one-score game at 7-0.

“We told the kids, bend, don't break,” Donatucci said. “The defense, they came through.”

However, the Homewood-Flossmoor offense set sail in the third.

The Vikings scored four times in the third quarter, ambushing the Conant defense with a dynamic aerial attack.

“We told the kids, they’re fast-paced and (to) keep everything in front of you because they're good,” Donatucci said.

“Good speed, good team,” he continued. “They're big and they're fast. We just let them go ahead and get some chunks.”

Vikings receiver William Jones III caught a Karter Nicholson touchdown pass to make it 14-0, and Homewood-Flossmoor did not look back.

Nicholson then found Xavier Pratt to quickly make it 21-0, pushing the Wing-T Cougars to the air.

Sophomore running back Ty Mickelson sprinted deep into Vikings territory to start the next Conant possession.

“I saw open space and a one-on-one with me,” Mickelson said. “When I'm in open field,
I'm gonna make a play and that's that.”

It set up quarterback Tyler Marchese as he found his brother Troy Marchese to get the Cougars on the scoreboard and avoid a shutout.

“Crisscross is what we ran there,” Donatucci said about the Mickelson run that set up the score.

“It does some misdirection stuff.
It hits or it's a fumble and Ty did a great job,” he added. “Then Tyler just put it in the spot and Troy catches everything, man. So he's an athlete.”

The Vikings pulled away the rest of the third quarter. Conant never recovered.

While there was disappointment in the Cougars postgame huddle, there was also a clear sense of pride.

For a team that went 0-9 just two seasons ago, advancing to the second weekend of the Class 8A tournament was big for the program.

“It was the senior leadership last year, those guys put us in the right direction,” Donatucci said. “The seniors this year just took the next step.”

Mickelson echoed his coach's sentiment. The sophomore running back will look to carry on the legacy this group leaves behind.

“Coming into summer camp, I was scared. I was a sophomore. I wasn't expecting much out of myself,” Mickelson said.

“These guys made me confident in myself,” he added. “I’m proud of all of them — they did so much for this program.”

Mickelson and his teammates hope to keep the momentum going at Conant next season.

“We’re gonna piggyback off of it and we're gonna do it for each other,” he said. “It's ‘Me for We,’ in the summer camp, that's what we established, and that's what it's gonna be for the next three years.”