A little publicity for Fremd: The marching band is sponsoring a car wash at the high school Saturday.
A bit more publicity for Fremd: Its defense did the cleaning up Friday.
The team that nearly squandered a 17-point lead one week earlier allowed visiting Conant just 73 yards on offense while mustering 185 of its own en route to a 14-0 victory at Hale Hildebrandt Field.
Forcing a pair of turnovers in the first half, both of which led to touchdowns, Fremd (2-0) held the Cougars to minus-4 yards in the first 24 minutes.
Mark Crawford, Dan Gonzalez, John Holby, Robert Hagg and Jason Sponsel made the big hits and the big plays.
Midway through the first quarter, Crawford and Gonzalez teamed up to help the Vikings gain prime field position when the former separated Conant QB Russ Michna from the ball and the latter pounced on it at the Vikings’ 30. Pat Brown scored six plays later on a quarterback sneak.
After stopping Conant on its next two possessions, Fremd’s Tommy Kim blocked a Jason Martin punt to give the Vikings the ball 11 yards away from another score.
Going backward rather than forward, Brown (9 for 12, 77 yards) came up big on a third-and-12 play with a 14-yard touchdown strike to Eric Foster. Jeff Grybash’s kick provided the game’s final points.
“A lot of the credit has to go to our coaches; they were the ones who prepared us,” said Crawford, who sat out last week’s victory over St. Laurence with a knee injury. “All week, I was lost, right up until tonight’s game, and Mr. (coach Mike) Donatucci took extra time with me and told me exactly what he wanted me to do.
“He helped me prepare mentally for the game. So much that I could wholly focus on just going out there and playing as physical as I could.”
The last time these two teams met, Conant came away with a one-point victory after its special teams blocked an extra-point in overtime.
“We talked a lot about that game this week and emphasized how important the play of our special teams needed to be,” said Gonzalez, who, along with Crawford sacked Michna late in the fourth quarter on fourth down to seal the shutout.
Last week, Conant lost by just three points–9-6–to No. 2 Naperville Central.
“I’m having a hard time reading these guys,” said Conant coach Frank Biskner. “I was so proud of the way they came out last week and almost beat one of the best teams in the country, Today, all I can say is that our offensive simply stunk.”
