Defense grabs attention for Elk Grove

So far this season Elk Grove's offense has been the story on game nights.

In Friday's Mid-Suburban East opener against Buffalo Grove it was the Grenadiers' defense grabbing everyone's attention in a 23-7 home win.

The Elk Grove defense led by linebackers Joey Bishoff, Dejan Basara, Greg Jamieson, John Eliades and defensive tackle Greg Johnsen, held the Bison to 226 yards of offense - 109 of which came on two deep passing plays.

"They played well," Elk Grove coach Brian Doll said of his defense. "We showed a lot of enthusiasm on defense."

Doll said his team had two different defensive game plans, one if Buffalo Grove quarterback Mike Garrity returned from injury, and one if Richie Zirngibl was under center.

Zirngibl was the quarterback on Friday night, and Doll was happy with the defensive execution.

Buffalo Grove's lone score came on a trick play to start the fourth quarter. Zirngibl handed off to running back Brian Busch who, after sweeping out to the right side of the field, pulled up and tossed a perfect pass to receiver Brian Akialis for a 64-yard touchdown.

"We were trying to gear in on those trick plays, but they pulled one and we weren't ready for it," Bishoff said. "Other than that we were pretty solid."

Bishoff got the Grens on the board by tackling Bison running back Jimmy Pinakidis in his own end zone for a safety. Buffalo Grove (2-3, 0-1) was in poor field position after recovering a fumble by Elk Grove quarterback Nick Meyer at its own 2.

"I just came through and the fullback didn't have a chance to get to me," Bishoff said. "We needed a big play there because we knew after that fumble we needed to make that play. Just to put points on the board, we knew we could settle down a little bit."

Meyer and the rest of the Elk Grove (4-1, 1-0) offense accounted for 339 yards, but 4 turnovers cost them in big spots.

"Our kids are continuing to play hard through adversity," BG coach Jim Farrell said. "I'm proud of them. They took probably the most high-powered offense around here and held them under control and forced a lot of turnovers. We're playing extremely well defensively."

Meyer rushed for 144 yards on 13 carries with 3 rushing touchdowns. He also completed 10-of-17 passes for 116 yards. Running back Mike Wary had 71 yards on 13 carries for the Grens.

Akialis had 116 receiving yards on 3 catches for the Bison.