Despite a 9-8 West Suburban Gold victory over Addison Trail Friday night, there was anything but jubilation to be found in the Downers Grove South camp.
The win would have been a loss had Nick Gasper’s 34-yard field goal not fallen inches short on the game’s last play.
Compounding the drama was a Blazers illegal-motion penalty seconds earlier that prevented Gasper from attempting his kick from 29 yards.
“Maybe part of the reason we fell apart tonight was that we expected to win,” said Alex Sandberg (21 carries, 65 yards). “We came out and thought we would win just because we’re Downers Grove South.”
With 18 conference titles in the last 20 years, it’s easy for the Mustangs (4-1, 3-0) to expect victory, but they definitely earned this win with a clutch 77-yard scoring drive late in the fourth quarter. That answered a 2-yard TD run and subsequent two-point conversion by Jeff Williams’ (25 carries, 102 yards) that gave Addison Trail (3-2, 1-1) an 8-2 lead with 9 minutes 5 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Downers South’s Dave Loehman raced around right end from 8 yards out for the winning score with 1:58 left to cap a drive kept alive by a 27-yard scramble from quarterback Drew Burdi.
“We had our power team set, and I was fortunate enough to get the ball in a position to make something happen,” said Loehman. “The line got a big hole for me, and Alex [Sandberg] threw a great block to spring me outside.”
The only points until the two late touchdowns came on a Downers safety after a snap sailed over punter Joe Tomaselli’s head through the Blazers’ end zone in the first quarter.
