THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2006
Back On Track
Hawks, Coy, Defense Put Together Hard-Fought Home Victory
By DWIGHT ESAU
Journal Reporter
Football is a game of what you're doing NOW .
Not what you did last week, or the injury you got eight days ago.
It's a game of today, not yesterday, and how you respond to adversity.
Maine South's Hawks came into last Saturday's game against Glenbrook North with a gimpy quarterback who was "about 70%," according to his coach, and a defense that had given up 89 points in its first two games.
So what happened?
Ah, the friendly confines of the Central Suburban League happened, that's what.
* Gutsy quarterback Jimmy Coy ignored his painful back enough to complete 22 of 29 passes for 220 yards and a touchdown.
* The Hawk defense reported back for duty and abused the Spartan offense all day, taking the ball away from it six times ands keeping it out of the Hawk end zone.
* David Chao notified one and all that yes, the Hawks do have a running game. He rambled 131 yards on 12 carries and scored 2 Hawk touchdowns.
* And Anthony Borsellino solidified the Hawk passing attack by catching 11 of Coy's tosses for 151 yards and a touchdown.
The 21-3 Hawk victory was workmanlike, not necessarily spectacular, but the game was not as close as the score may indicate, thanks to a turnover-minded Hawk defense. The offense sputtered sometimes with penalties and 2 pass interceptions.
The big stories of the game were Coy's courageous accuracy (76%), Chao's aggressive speed, and the red-and-black's defense that intercepted 4 Spartan passes, ands recovered 2 Glenbrook fumbles.
"We decided we wanted to win with Jimmy, even though he was about 70%," said coach David Inserra. "We told him to run only if he had to, and to focus on throwing short and medium range passes. He stayed within himself and did a find job." Coy, with limited mobility in the pocket, was sacked four times, but when he had time and space to throw, his passes were usually right on his receiver's numbers. He may have been 70% physically, but his 76% completion percentage was one of the highest in recent South history.
The Hawks didn't waste any time setting a tone of "We're not just going to stop you, we're going to take the ball away from you." The Hawks acted throughout the game as if they had chatted with some of the '85 Chicago Bears defenders before the game.
On the Spartans first play, several Hawks stripped the ball from a runner and Steve Rose covered it on the Spartan 31. Charlie Goro started the first Hawk series, and an interception prevented the Hawks from doing any scoring. However, Brian Storce stuffed a Spartan third down run to force one punt and a bad Glenbrook snap on fourth down gave the Hawks the ball on the Spartan 29.
Coy found Borsellino for 10 yards, hit him again for 18 more, and the Hawks overcame two penalties and a completed pass that lost five yards to leave the ball on the 14. Borsellino then ran one of his favorite routes, into the end zone and then to the right front corner, where Coy's bullet found him at the goal line for the first Hawk TD.
The Spartans then drove deep into Hawk territory, mostly on running plays, and kicked a 36-yard field goal.
The Hawks got back on the board at the end of the first half on a six-inch plunge by Chao in a lane cleared by tackle Matt Saccomanno after Christian Leontios grabbed the first of his two interceptions. This 83-yard drive featured a 22-yard completion to Canny Benson and a 31-yard pass run to Borsellino.
An interception by K.C. Kaage and a fumble recovery by Saccomanno stopped two Spartan drives in the third quarter, while the Hawks marked time with two punts.
Early in the fourth quarter, with the ball on the Hawk 45, Chao broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage, slid to his right, and outran the Spartan defense 55 yards for the final Hawk touchdown.
Leontios put a defensive exclamation point on the proceedings with his second interception later, and linebacker Chris Fahey wrapped things up with an end zone interception to stop the final Spartan drive in the final minutes.
"We needed this one, we got beat up by two very good teams in the first two weeks, despite doing as lot of good things," Inserra said. "The players responded well with a good week of practice and a good spirit, and it showed today."
The Hawks will be heavily favored in their next two games, at Maine East this weekend, and back home against Waukegan on Sept. 21. That should fortify them for the two big challenges that lie ahead for that sixth straight CSL-South conference title - New Trier at homecoming on Oct. 7, and Evanston on Oct. 21.
HAWK SOPHOMORES - The Hawk sophomore teram, coached again by Chris Hare, ran its season record to 2-0 with a 22-12 win over Glenbrook North last Saturday.
Quarterback John Alviti threw for one TD and ran for another, Neal McConville caught a TD pass, and Joe Orlando ran for the final Hawk TD.
In their first game on Sept. 2, the Hawks blanked Warren, 16-0.