Fremd earns big bounce-back win

It wasn't surprising to notice the mood among the victorious Fremd football players was somewhat subdued after Friday's 39-14 Mid-Suburban West victory over visiting Conant.

The Vikings knew they needed to win, plus a loss for crosstown rival Palatine to keep their hopes alive for an outright West Division title.

They kept their share of the bargain, but when Palatine handed Barrington its first loss of the season, Fremd's hopes for an outright title vanished.

Nonetheless, Fremd (6-2, 3-1) bounced back from last week's loss at Palatine with an impressive performance that included big plays on both offense and defense.

"The kids are learning you have to earn things, they're just not handed to them," said Fremd coach Lou Sponsel.

Wideout Jawan Gaines had what would have been a game for the ages, had not two of his three kick returns for touchdowns been nullified by penalties.

He did return the second-half kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown, after punt returns of 54 and 60 yards were called back.

"We practice that a lot," Gaines said. "I trust the players to make the holes."

"It was ridiculous," said linebacker Matt McCabe (7 tackles, 1 tackle for loss), whose defense blanked Conant in the second half. "Give a lot of credit to the blocking, and he's got breakaway speed."

That score gave Fremd a 29-14 lead, just minutes after Jeff Gill's 28-yard interception return with 1:49 left in the half changed the momentum and turned a tie game to Fremd's favor.

"What really hurt was that pick 6 before the half," Conant coach Bill Modelski said. "It was a big momentum swing, and it took the air out of us."

Fremd outscored the Cougars 17-0 in the second half and the Vikings flexed their defensive muscle on a goal-line stand early in the fourth quarter that kept Conant (3-5, 1-3) from getting back into the game.

On four plays from the 2, Fremd held firm. Gill stopped Jake Jakubosky (24 carries, 73 yards) on first down. Kevin Schmoeller knocked down a Kyle Bradley pass in the end zone on second down.

The defensive line swarmed Jakubosky on third down and Patrick Chen led a charge that stopped him on fourth down.

Then, the Vikings turned on the ground game by handing the ball to Cody Patenaude (18 carries for 164 yards) on six consecutive plays to gain field position.

Patenaude scored Fremd's final points on a 28-yard run when most players from both teams seemed to stop when Patenaude appeared to go down.

But he regained his footing and raced down the sidelines for the score with 1:50 left.

The teams traded touchdowns early.

Jakubosky scored on a 1-yard run, and Nick Bossong (14-30 for 190 yards) connected with Kyle Lewis (8 catches, 136 yards) for touchdowns of 58 and 10 yards.

Conant answered when Bradley connected with Carl Hahn (7 catches, 88 yards) for the tying score.

"Our line played excellent as usual," Bossong said. "There's not a game I can think of that they didn't play fantastic."

"Our offensive line is big, and we're in great shape," Sponsel said. "We practice at a high tempo so we can wear teams down in the second half."