Glenbard West completes undefeated regular season
As one of the leaders of the Glenbard West offensive line, Jordan Walsh knows opposing defenses face a big challenge when they try to stop the Hilltoppers power ground game featuring running backs with different running styles.
"I can't imagine what it must be like," Walsh said. "I don't know what I would do."
Even with two of their featured backs out because of injuries, Glenbard West showed why it was one of the best teams in the state in Friday's West Suburban Silver football showdown against Lyons Twp.
Behind strong play from the offensive line and the running of Adam Bruere and Pierre Washington-Steel, the Hilltoppers overcame an early deficit to capture a convincing 28-7 victory over the host Lions on a cold and rainy night in Western Springs.
With the win Glenbard West finished the regular season with a sparkling 9-0 overall record and 6-0 in the conference. This was its second straight outright Silver title and also the second consecutive year the Hilltoppers finished without a loss in the regular season.
Bruere and Washington Steel each scored 2 touchdowns, Bruere, who runs with more of a bruising power style, rushed for 115 yards on 11 carries. Washington-Steel, who has a slashing cutback kind of style, piled up 95 yards on 18 carries. Backs Steve Jones and Trace Sorey were out.
"We get them off balance," said Bruere, about throwing different styles of backs at opposing defenses. "With two of our backs out, I had to get a lot more share of the carries in the backfield. It feels great (to be undefeated at 9-0)."
Lyons Twp. (5-4, 3-3) shocked Glenbard West a bit when it scored first. Neither team did much in the first quarter as a brisk wind and sheets of rain pelted the players on the artificial turf.
But in the second quarter the hosts got on the board first to fire up the crowd on senior night. Standout running back Nic Brown scored on a 10-yard run with 9:38 to play in the second quarter. He finished with 105 yards on 20 carries. This 11-play, 45-yard scoring drive started after defensive lineman Guillermo Gonzalez came up with a fumble recovery on a long pass play by the Hilltoppers.
That was just the wakeup call Glenbard West needed. On the next series Bruere capped a 10-play, 65-yard drive by scoring from 2 yards out. Thanks to strong defense by a number of players such as Connor Loftus, Mike Laning and Zach Marshall, the Hilltoppers got the ball back quick and scored again with 35.2 seconds to play before halftime on a 1-yard run by Bruere.
"We haven't been in a situation the last six or seven weeks where we had to fight it out a bit," said Glenbard West coach Chad Hetlet. "It was good for us to get punched in the mouth and see how we responded."
In the second half the Hilltoppers offensive line of Greg Kuhn, Mike Sandoz, Johnny Caspers, Tommy Nalon and Walsh paved the way for 2 more rushing touchdowns and burned lots of time off the clock.
"They run the heck out of the ball," said Lyons Twp. coach Kurt Weinberg. "They are big and strong upfront. There is a reason they are 9-0."