Johnson, Hersey take second half from Conant
It was a tale of two halves when Hersey and Conant met in Thursday night's Mid-Suburban League crossover football game.
The second half proved to be the difference as Hersey (3-1) registered a 34-7 victory in Arlington Heights.
The game was all about field position in a first half which ended in a 7-7 tie.
The Huskies scored first on a 1-yard run by tailback Chris Polinski.
The Cougars (2-2) attained great field position after senior defensive back John Altobelli blocked a punt and Nick Blaha recovered it on the Huskies' 15-yard line.
Quarterback Matt Cullen raced 3 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 7-7.
The second quarter turned into the Zach Johnson show.
The Huskies' senior running back (27 carries, 210 yards) ignited the offense by scoring on two rushes in the third quarter and added another TD in the fourth quarter.
"We had a good week of practice," Johnson said. "We had good blocking and I found the holes. We had more intensity and we wanted it more. The intensity carried over on the offensive side and the defensive side."
In the third quarter, the game was broken open after the Huskies scored three touchdowns and gained 186 yards.
Along with the Huskies' scoring arsenal, the defense held the Cougars to only 6 third-quarter yards.
"There weren't any adjustments made, we just had intensity and focus," said Huskies' head coach Dragan Teonic. "The 'D' straightened up and the 'D' held them. I tell the kids to compete and finish every play.
"We won the turnover ratio today. We had great performances from (Billy) Borst, (Chris) Polinski and Zach (Johnson)."
Subsequent to the Huskies' breakout third quarter, the Cougars displayed stellar defense.
However, the deficit was too drastic for the Cougars to recover and the defense got fatigued. Altobelli blocked a punt, recovered a fumble and registered 2 sacks.
"We didn't play good football in the first half," said Cougars' coach Bill Modelski. "They kind of figured us out, and the fact of the matter is they did everything better. You've got to tip your cap to Hersey.
"We came in thinking we were better than we were. We have to bounce back and we will see how we respond after this loss. This was very disappointing."