Burlington Central junior Nick Termini has made his share of escapes on a wrestling mat.
But Termini, who placed sixth at 132 pounds last year in Class 2A, likes the escapes he makes from tacklers on a football field somewhat more.
Termini made up for the loss of quarterback Johnny DiCostanzo to a leg injury by tearing through Rockford Lutheran’s defense for two rushing touchdowns Friday night in the Rockets’ 38-7 nonconference victory.
“This is more of a team-essence sport, and when you escape a tackle you feel like you did it for 10 other guys,” Termini said. “It feels good. You come back to the huddle and everybody’s patting you on the back.
“It’s that brotherhood thing that makes you feel better. So I’d have to say escaping tackles is better than making escapes in wrestling.”
The 5-foot-8, 150-pound Termini rushed for 93 yards on 11 attempts for Burlington Central (2-1), while Nathan Figurski contributed 79 yards on 23 attempts and also scored two TDs.
Matt Ganziano added 44 yards on six carries in a by-committee rushing approach as the Rockets outrushed Lutheran (0-3) by a 207-74 count.
“We have three rough running backs,” Burlington coach Brian Melvin said. “Tonight it was just who has the hot hand, and we’re going to keep getting it to them.
“It’s a give-and-take who we put in. They all are the same, but they all have different traits.”
DiCostanzo started the scoring with a lob pass pulled down by Kyle Moring for an 18-yard TD on the Rockets’ first possession.
Burlington then turned to the running game. Figurski powered in from 11 yards on the second possession and Termini broke a 58-yard TD straight up the middle on the third possession.
Figurski later scored on a 9-yard run, Termini on a 1-yard run, and Andrew Solomon added a 28-yard field goal.
“We come out ground-and-pound and don’t stop for anybody,” Termini said. “We try to bounce off people and try to establish dominance with our running scheme.”
DiCostanzo left with a leg injury during the third quarter after being hit while pitching out on an option play. Sophomore Jake Lenschow finished at quarterback.
“The talk on the next drive was, ‘This isn’t for us, it’s for Johnny,'” Termini said. “We’ve really got to pick up the slack. We have faith he’ll come back, but it’s a huge loss.”
Figurski has excelled at inside linebacker after being moved from the outside when defensive leader Ryan Doubek broke his hand in the season opener.
Figurski, Sam Esterly and Sam Dossey led a defense that might have posted a shutout if not for a lost fumble at their own 10, setting up the only Crusader points.
“As a defense, we always try to shut them out,” Figurski said. “We wanted to come in, smack them in the mouth and show them it’s our home field. Stuff like fumbles happen. We’ve got to overcome and keep playing.”
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Week 3 highlights
Bartlett 33, West Chicago 14: Dean Kotsovetis threw three TD passes and Nick Deckard added two rushing TDs for Bartlett (1-2, 1-0) in the Upstate Eight Valley.
Cary-Grove 57, Hampshire 14: Dan Dalby threw a 6-yard TD pass to Nicolas Rummell and defensive back Zane Sheetz returned a fumble for a TD for Hampshire (1-2, 1-1) in the Fox Valley.
Huntley 56, Dundee-Crown 12: Melvin Aninagyei-Bonsu ran for four TDs and 165 yards for Huntley (2-1, 2-1) in the Fox Valley. Ricky Ibarra caught a TD pass from Josh Raby and ran for a TD for Dundee-Crown (0-3, 0-3).
Jacobs 56, Crystal Lake South 28: Loren Strickland had 160 yards rushing and three TDs for Jacobs (2-1, 2-1) in the Fox Valley.
St. Charles East 23, Geneva 16: Quarterback Clayton Isbell ran for 220 yards and his 29-yard TD pass to Nick Garlisch with with 2:42 remaining gave St. Charles East (3-0, 1-0) the Upstate Eight River win.
St. Edward 54, Walther Christian 0: David Madden ran for TDs of 4 and 27 yards and caught a 12-yard TD pass from Dylan Mlinarich for St. Edward (2-1).
South Elgin 37, Glenbard East 22: Quarterback Nate Gomez ran for 281 yards and three TDs to lead South Elgin (3-0, 1-0) in the Upstate Eight Valley.
