Glenbard West rises to coaches' challenge

Glenbard West's coaches challenged their players to create turnovers.

Four fumbles and two interceptions later, the message came through loud and clear.

Glenbard West's football team took advantage of every opportunity in Saturday's 47-7 romp over visiting Downers Grove North to seal at least a share of the Hilltoppers' third straight West Suburban Silver title.

"Turnovers were a big focal point this week for us defensively," said Glenbard West coach Chad Hetlet. "We felt like we hadn't been getting them like we had in the last few years. We had a lot of challenges this week for turnovers and it paid off."

A victory over Lyons Twp. (7-1, 4-1) next Saturday at Duchon Field would clinch the outright Silver title and send the Hilltoppers (8-0, 5-0) into the Class 7A playoffs with an unbeaten record for the second straight year.

Judging by their intense effort against Downers North (1-7, 0-5), it's a game the Hilltoppers who forced a running clock on the Trojans with nearly 10 minutes left in the third quarter won't take lightly.

Sophomore running back Kendall Johnson broke out for 185 yards and 3 touchdowns on 11 carries while safety Mike Laning's 2 interceptions led the defensive effort that caused the turnovers and set up many of the touchdowns.

"Even though they were 1-6 we still didn't stop playing as hard as we could because that's not what coach Hetlet trains us to do," said Johnson, who scored on runs of 13, 72 and 9 yards. "We came out and played a hard game. They're a good team, I'm not going to put them down, but we came out and fought through it."

Glenbard West scored on four of its first five possessions, the only blip being an interception in the end zone by Downers North's Tyler Mason. Nick Burrello, who rushed for 95 yards on 11 carries, ran in from 3 yards out, and Daver Glawe fired a 22-yard touchdown pass to Mark Hiben.

Second-quarter touchdowns soon followed on runs by Johnson and Beau Warden, the Hilltoppers' starting linebacker, who added a third-quarter touchdown run. Behind a dominant offensive line, Glenbard West piled up 172 of its 322 rushing yards in the first half.

"The whole week we've been talking about coming out strong because it's something we haven't really done in the past weeks," said Glenbard West junior offensive lineman Johnny Caspers. "That's something we did today and we got better at coming out strong. We're going to start fast and we're going to sustain."

Downers North, which managed 115 of its 126 yards on the ground, scored its touchdown on Freddy Palma's 6-yard run in the fourth quarter. The scoring drive lasted 14 plays and accounted for 6 of the team's 8 first downs.

"You've got to play that team with zero turnovers, let alone three or four in the first half," said Trojans coach John Wander, whose team played without starting quarterback Riley McGinnis because of a broken arm. "That was doomsday, and then the tire went flat. That's a good football team, and we weren't."