O’Brien, Fremd hold Conant offense in check in MSL victory

Fremd’s Tom O’Brien is a mauler.

The Vikings linebacker led a fierce defensive charge that torpedoed Conant’s Wing-T offense as Fremd rolled to a 31-12 win Friday in Palatine.

“You can’t be at linebacker if you don’t like to hit,” O’Brien said. “I love the Wing-T. Our preparation to stop their run began at the beginning of this week. We worked hard on it.”

With O’Brien leading the defensive charge along with Liam Tyrrell, Joey Glass, Kevin Miller, George Kalkounos and Mike Perez, the Vikings (5-1, 2-0) completely bottled up the Conant running game. The Cougars, who came into the game averaging 290 rushing yards, were limited to 34 yards on the ground.

“We didn’t play well last week, so we challenged our kids,” Fremd coach Lou Sponsel said. “O’Brien is a phenomenal leader. He a great person and a very good player. He is as tough as nails and so instinctively smart.”

Conant (5-1, 1-1), which had only thrown the ball 17 times all season, threw the ball a season-high 198 yards and two touchdowns.

Marchese caught Fremd looking into the backfield on the Cougars’ first offense play. Tyler Marchese made a great play fake and then found a wide-open Ivan Haralov on an 80-yard touchdown pass to make it 6-0.

Raizo Ruiz took the ensuing kickoff back 72 yards to the Conant eight-yard line. A penalty moved it half the distance from there. Two plays later, Will Clark scored on a keeper to put the Vikings up 7-6.

Clark later connected on a 25-yard touchdown pass to MJ Castelloni to make it 14-6. A 39-yard field goal just before the end of the half by Shea Sloan made it 17-6 at the break.

Marchese drove Conant through the air downfield. He connected with Anthony Burns midway through the third quarter to cut Fremd’s lead to 17-12.

Clark put the game away just two plays later when he raced 47 yards for a touchdown to make it 24-12.

“I was just scrambling there,” said Clark, who rushed for 114 yards and threw for 54 more.

“I saw the whole defense go to the right with Castelloni. Then I saw the lane and I took off. I am pretty fast and I was able to beat everyone down the sideline.”

After Fremd stopped Conant at the Vikings eight-yard line midway through the fourth quarter, Jayden Faulkner put the game out of reach. The senior was a man possessed, taking the ball down the field as the Vikings chewed up clock. Faulkner, who finished with 107 yards on 11 carries, capped the 12-play drive with a four-yard touchdown run.

“We did a great job of stopping their run tonight,” Sponsel said. “We just have to better in the secondary.”

Conant coach Anthony Donatucci said his team his team fought hard.

“We had the momentum early,” Donatucci said. “We want our kids battling. They had lots of guys in the box, so we had to open it up a little more than usual.”