Highland Park tight end Tom Motzko spent significant time in the backfield in the Giants’ football game against Deerfield on Friday. He got into the Warriors backfield at critical moments as well.
Motzko, a junior, ran for two touchdowns on offense while recording a sack and a pair of tackles for loss on defense to help the Giants defeat rival Deerfield 21-7 in a Central Suburban North game at Wolters Field in Highland Park.
With Motzko calling the Giants’ defensive signals on the field from his inside linebacker position, Highland Park (4-3, 3-0) held Deerfield (3-4, 2-1) to 35 yards on the ground and 40 in the air.
“I make a call when I see where the ball is going,” Motzko said. “We all fly to the ball and gang tackle. That’s the fun part of football.”
Joining Motzko in the Deerfield backfield was outside linebacker Noa Morgenstern, also a junior, who had the other two Highland Park sacks. Two of the sacks forced Deerfield punts and the third ended the first half with the Giants ahead 7-0.
“I just ran as hard as I could and when I saw the quarterback unblocked I took him down,” Morgenstern said. “Anyone who was in my way I took them down too.”
After a scoreless first quarter, Highland Park recorded the game’s first touchdown with just over five minutes left in the half when senior quarterback Johnny Sakos found junior Giancarlo Volpentesta in the end zone.
In the second half, the Giants started to put more first downs together and took a 14-0 lead with slightly more than two minutes left in the third quarter when Motzko scored on an 8-yard run.
“Our defense was on the field way too long. They got worn down,” said Warriors coach Steve Winiecki, adding, “They didn’t throw any schemes at us we did not know about. They played solid defense.”
Twice in the second half the Giants faced third-and-long in their own territory. On both occasions, the Giants sprung big plays for a first down. One was a 49-yard pass from Sakos to senior Noah Spitz and the other a 23-yard toss from Sakos to Spitz.
“We have the ability to make a big play on every play with Noah and Giancarlo,” Highland Park coach Joe Horeni said of two of his wide receivers. “Johnny can make those plays with those receivers.”
While he plays tight end most of the time on offense, Motzko said that when Highland Park gets into short-yardage situations, especially near the goal line, he moves into the backfield with two other running backs for the Giants’ T-formation.
Motzko added a touchdown from 2 yards out with 7:51 remaining in the game.
“We all go as hard as we can for those couple plays and get small yards, one after the other,” Motzko said. “It is an extremely fun time when we go into the T-formation.”
After Highland Park took a 21-0 lead, Deerfield senior quarterback Jonah Silverglade threw for 10 yards and ran for 18 more to engineer a 54-yard touchdown drive. He scored on an 11-yard run.
Steve Sadin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press
