Conant 10, Hoffman Estates 6

There was excitement all around Garber Stadium. It was homecoming and the Mayor's Cup was at stake as Hoffman Estates hosted cross-town rival Conant. The band was pumped up and the fans were going crazy.

And while the Mid-Suburban West football battle wasn't action-packed, Conant (2-5, 1-2) was able to pull out a 10-6 victory over Hoffman (2-5, 1-2) on Friday night.

"It's big. It feels really good," said Conant senior quarterback Tom Houle. "To come here and get the victory on their field, in front of their fans, it feels good."

The Hawks lost 3 of their 4 fumbles. They also had a punt blocked and were only able to pick up 3 first downs in the first half.

Adding to their misery, the Hawks lost quarterback Frank Wadas to an injury near the end of the third quarter.

Hoffman's first fumble, which came midway through the second quarter, cost them 3 points.

And on Hoffman's next possession, Wadas fumbled as he was sacked and the ball was picked up by defensive lineman Otto Linderman. Linderman had nothing but open grass in front of him as he returned it untouched 25 yards for a touchdown.

Things seemed promising for the Hawks at the beginning of the second half as Wadas picked up 3 first downs on 6 straight complete passes. However, the drive came to a screeching halt on a lost fumble.

"We knew they were holding the ball loose and we went for the strips all night," Houle said.

Once again, it looked as if Hoffman would finally put some points on the board when Blake Heyman, who was filling in for Wadas, threw a 40-yard pass up for grabs that was tipped by twp Cougars before Tyler Davis dived for the catch.

The great play by Davis set up a first-and-goal on the Conant 1 with 5:45 left in the game. But the Hawks came away with nothing on a missed 19-yard field goal.

The Hoffman fans were finally given something to cheer about when Mike Swedlund returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown to cut the Conant lead to 10-6 with 3:34 remaining in the game.

Heyman was able to put together an impressive drive with 1:23 left on the clock and no timeouts, reaching the Cougars' 28. But it was too little, too late as Heyman's final desperation heave to the back of the end zone was swatted away by a Conant defender.

"We have invented ways to lose games all season. We always have a fourth-quarter collapse," said Conant coach Bill Modelski. "But we did enough tonight. We ran enough clock and we forced enough turnovers.

"Our defense played tough and I give credit to my kids for sticking in there."