Christian Liberty makes gains in defeat

Sometimes winning the games within the game are more important than the final score.

Christian Liberty Academy was able to come away with two of those small wins as it fell to North Shore Country Day School 53-7 in a Northeastern Athletic Conference football game Saturday afternoon in Arlington Heights.

“In the second half we wanted to make them punt, and we said we had to score,” said Christian Liberty coach Jim Calkins.

The Chargers (0-6, 0-6) accomplished the first objective when their defense forced the Raiders (6-0, 6-0) to punt on the first possession of the second half. After a penalty forced NSCD into first-and-30, the Charger defense bent for an 11-yard completion and then forced consecutive incompletions to earn the first Raider punt of the game.

Then, with 2:30 left in the game and a running clock, the Chargers marched 46 yards for their first offensive touchdown of the season and their second score in two weeks.

Junior running back Dan Glad, who ran up the middle all day for 76 yards on 16 carries, ignited the drive with a 9-yard run on first down and a 5-yard burst on second.

Then Junior Marcus Silva (4 carries, 22 yards) polished off the drive with a 15-yard carry on the ensuing first down and a 7-yard sprint off the right side for the score.

“(The touchdown) felt pretty good considering our team doesn’t score much,” said Silva. “But I loved it.”

Senior Zach March led the way for the Raiders with 4 catches for 117 yards and 3 touchdowns on offense. March also had a pair of interceptions to kill threatening drives from Christian Liberty.

“He’s a ball hawk on defense, works hard, runs great routes, has great hands,” said NSCD coach James Dueble of March. “He’s a player. That’s just the way he is.”

North Shore was able to force 5 turnovers in all. They grabbed 4 interceptions and recovered a fumble.