Riverside-Brookfield denies Glenbard East’s bid for 3rd straight UEC East title

There is another game next week and then there’s the playoffs. So, Glenbard East’s season surely did not come to an end Friday night at Riverside-Brookfield.

What did end with the 38-28 setback to the Bulldogs was a chance for the Rams (5-3, 5-1) to win a third straight Upstate Eight Conference crown. Those hopes were dashed by the home team’s dominant performance on offense, one that saw them rush for 296 yards and continually extend drives.

“They’re a good football team and they played really well tonight. Hats off to them and you know, congrats on the win,” Rams coach John Walters said after R-B won its seventh straight game while snapping Glenbard East’s five-game win streak. “We have to play better team football.”

Bulldogs quarterback Braeden Novak was in control from the get-go, leading the home team to touchdown drives on their first two possessions and then settling for a field goal on the third possession only after a penalty and a sack by Glenbard East’s Syncere Fox.

“We just couldn’t get a stop,” Walters lamented. “We couldn’t get off the field on third down. We’re a 25% third down team for the season and tonight we gave up too many third down opportunities.”

But Novak and his talented teammates had a lot to say about that. The R-B signal caller rushed for 131 yards and two scores and had 209 yards and two more scores through the air while guiding his team to the league title. Nico Caputo also topped 100 yards on the ground and caught six passes for 69 yards and another touchdown.

The Glenbard East offense did its part to try and stay in the game by scoring four touchdowns, but it was just not enough.

“We came here and ran into a team that was not afraid to fight back and compete against us,” said Rams running back Montii Perry, who ran for 104 yards and a 2-yard touchdown in the second half. “We were moving the ball and scoring, we just had to finish up more on defense.”

Glenbard East quarterback Carter Pohlman passed for 217 yards and a pair of touchdowns and provided a spark when he connected with Diamond Chew for a 67-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second half. That quick strike closed the gap to 24-14, but the Bulldogs answered with a touchdown run from Novak to lead 31-14 midway through the third quarter.

“I thought it was a good breakout game for our offense,” said Pohlman. “We cleaned up a lot of things from the start of the year. We started 0-2 and we’ve worked a lot on practice. Tonight wasn’t the result we wanted but we just have to keep working.”

Walters agreed with his quarterback.

“We believe we’re a good football team,” the coach said. “We didn’t play our best and it was a tough loss. But we’re going to work hard and make sure we put our best football forward next week.”