Bulldogs make it to Round 3
As he bounced up and down the sideline Friday night, Grant senior wide receiver Tom Bychowski waved three fingers at the frenzied home fans.
"Third round," Bychowski said definitively. "This is the best feeling in the world, like nothing we've ever felt before."
That's because Bychowski and his teammates never have felt the elation of advancing to the third round of the playoffs - or what is more commonly referred to as the quarterfinals.
In fact, no football player at Grant ever has.
In school history, Grant has gotten only as far as the second round in the state playoffs. And that has happened just twice.
The Bulldogs fell short of a quarterfinal berth in 1999 and again last year with second round losses to Joliet Catholic and Lemont, respectively.
But, thanks in large part to some clutch plays by Bychowski, the Bulldogs followed the lead of American voters this week and made a little bit of history with a rousing 28-24 come-from-behind victory over visiting Huntley in Class 6A second round action.
No. 13-seeded Grant, which improves to 8-3 on the season, will now face the winner of Saturday's Lemont-Morgan Park game next weekend in the quarterfinals.
No. 5 Huntley, which was coming off a spectacular 70-point performance in its record-setting first round victory over Batavia, closes out its magical season at 9-2.
"It's exciting because this is uncharted territory for us," Grant coach Kurt Rous said. "It's great to keep playing. I didn't want the off-season to start yet."
It was held off in dramatic fashion.
Grant began its first possession of the fourth quarter down 24-21 after Huntley regained the lead on a 3-yard run by David Conrad (17 carries, 78 yards).
The Bulldogs then patiently strung together 13 plays that moved them from their own 18-yard line to the Huntley 8-yard line. That chewed up about seven minutes of clock.
Grant then failed to punch the ball into the end zone on its first three tries and faced a 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line with less than two minutes to play.
"We weren't going to kick that field goal (to tie the game)," Bychowski said matter-of-factly. "We were like, 'We've got to win this now.'"
Grant quarterback Justin Cokefair then took the snap from center and was pressured immediately as he looked for room to run. As he was falling to the ground, he caught a glimpse of Bychowski to his right and pitched the ball back to him.
Bychowski plowed his way into the end zone.
"I thought Justin was on the ground," Bychowski said. "That was a good play by him."
There was another good play to come.
The Red Raiders got the ball back at their own 31-yard line with 1:51 left. Knowing they were going to have to throw from then on, Grant went heavy on the defensive backs and inserted Bychowski for his first defensive play of the game.
Two plays into Huntley's do-or-die drive, Bychowski leaped up and intercepted a Brandon Luczak pass. Grant was able to simply run out the clock from there.
"I was speechless," Bychowski said of the interception and how it sealed up an historic moment for the program.
Bychowski finished with 47 rushing yards on 8 carries and 44 receiving yards on 4 catches. He also scored a total of 2 touchdowns. His other came on a 6-yard run in the third quarter that came after Grant recovered its own on-side kick.
Grant also got touchdowns from Cokefair (4-yard run) and Gunther Rosentreter (23-yard run).
Huntley's big gainer on the night was senior running back Jordan Neukirch, who rolled up a game-high 97 rushing yards (on 17 carries). He also scored 2 touchdowns, both of which came early in the game and gave Huntley a 14-0 lead late in the second quarter.
"We had to be a little stouter in the trenches to go to the next level," Huntley coach Steve Graves said. "They were knocking down the big plays and making us score with a long clock and a long field."