Resilient Vikings ramble ahead

As the injuries have piled up and the players have lined up out of position more and more all season, it doesn't seem to have fazed Fremd in the least.

The Vikings did it again Saturday night, overcoming the loss of one of their leaders, tailback Mike Gyetvay, to hold on for a 17-14 win over visiting Loyola and a spot in the Class 8A quarterfinals next Saturday at Glenbard North.

The top-seeded Vikings, with Gyetvay sitting with a damaged elbow after just three carries, called upon Derrick Walker and Nick Hillard to take up the slack, which they did, combing for 80 yards.

And they called upon the right arm of quarterback Mark Tolzien (13-of-25, 163 yards, 1 TD, no picks) and the good hands of receivers like Mike Koeneman and Andrew Corso, who made spectacular catches for a touchdown and to set one up, respectively.

And they called upon the leg of Mark Bappert, who booted what would be the winning points, a 27-yard field in the second quarter.

But most of all, they called upon their defense, as they have all season. And it came through.

They held off the passing attack of Inverness resident Peter Badovinac (14-of-31, 152 yards, 2 TDs), who almost stole the game right out from under the "home" crowd in front of which he played.

They made big plays late in the game too. Koeneman, who was inserted on defense as the game wound down, swatted away a key pass. An exhausted Hillard, who played both ways after Gyetvay got hurt, made key stops from his linebacker slot.

Secondary performers Jory Engel, Mike Tauchman and Brian Hipchen teamed up to prevent hot-handed receiver Brian Lindsay from burning them any more than he already had. Pass-rushing run-stuffers Kevin Krieter, Tim Dusek and John LaPointe kept the heat on Badovinac and helped limit the Ramblers (8-3) to just 38 yards rushing.

Four times they threw Rambler ballcarriers for losses.

"This team believes," said Fremd coach Mike Donatucci.

"I'm dead (tired) and it's awesome," said Hillard, who gained 28 yards on 6 carries, including 12 on 3 carries in a game-clinching, time-killing final drive in the fourth quarter that covered 68 yards in more than 7 minutes and left Loyola with the ball on its own 23 with 18 seconds left and no timeouts available.

He knew the Ramblers had gone double-overtime with top-seeded Mount Carmel before losing and that Badovinac would've loved nothing more than to beat the Vikings, who, at 11-0, have more wins in a season in their history.

"To be the best, you have to beat the best," Hillard noted, calling that final, time-eating drive something that Fremd "…knew it had to do and we did it," after being held to negative total-offense yards in the second half till then.

It was quite a contrast to the first half, when Fremd moved seemingly at will, Tolzien hitting Koeneman for a diving-reception TD from 20 yards out on a hitch-and-go and Walker scoring from a yard out to finish a 30-yard drive after Dusek recovered a Loyola fumble on a punt.

"You have to tip your hat to the offensive line, and to Hillard and Walker for stepping in," said Donatucci.

And to Badovinac, who brought Loyola (8-3) back from a 17-0 deficit for a chance to win with touchdown passes to Charles McElveen and Lindsay and a conversion run.

He wasn't dwelling on losing his to "hometown" team, though.

"It's a playoff game. Any playoff game is huge," he said. "Our defense played great. We (offense) didn't hold up our end of the bargain."

Fremd did.

"We're looking to go all way," said Hillard.