Excitement turns to disappointment

Scott Zari woke up Friday and wondered like most high school football players in the northwest suburbs.

The Conant senior linebacker wondered if Thursday's wild weather would put the excitement of Friday night's season opener on hold.

But the next expected blast of rain never materialized. And it was time to get ready for some football against Lake Park on what turned out to be a beautiful late-August night at Feutz Field.

"The butterflies hit when I first saw it was clear outside," said Zari, a returning all-area pick. "I knew for sure we were going to play and I had to get ready."

The Cougars were ready to renew the magic that carried them to a playoff berth a year ago. The field was ready and in better condition than most people would have imagined considering all the rain lately.

The only thing that put a damper on the night for the Cougars was a tying touchdown with 5:59 to play and a field goal with 8.8 seconds left that gave Lake Park a 16-13 victory.

"It's disappointing," said Conant coach Bill Modelski. "Really disappointing."

Especially since Conant led most of the way despite gaining only 77 yards of total offense. Its initial first down didn't come until 1½ minutes after halftime and it didn't attempt its first pass until there was 2:18 to play.

But its first score came when sophomore linebacker Otto Linderman electrified the Conant fans as raced 35 yards to end zone with a first-quarter interception.

"That was pretty neat," Modelski said. "Pretty special."

So was quarterback Tom Houle's touchdown run of the same distance in the third quarter. The Cougars seemed to be finding ways to win while Lake Park couldn't get out of its own way with critical penalties, botched snaps and interceptions.

"The energy was great -- just like last year," Zari said. "Nothing was negative."

Zari's senior linebacker mate Austin Smith recovered a fumble on a kickoff. Junior Ryan Amundson had a big interception with 2:31 left and also broke up a potential touchdown pass right before halftime.

Senior Vince Tortorici and junior Joe Patricelli stuffed Lake Park quarterback Larry Nawrot short on fourth-and-1 at the Conant 25 early in the fourth quarter.

So Zari could have easily put the onus on the offense. He wasn't about to take that route.

"I felt overall it was a good performance by our defense," Zari said. "But we win as a team and we lose as a team. I'm not saying our offense is what lost this game at all."

And Modelski wasn't about to blame the officials for a defensive pass interference call the Cougars didn't agree with that put the ball on their 11 and set up the biggest of Peter Demars' 3 field goals.

"We gave them the opportunity to allow that to happen," Modelski said of a botched pitchout with 29 seconds to play.

But the bitter disappointment for the Cougars was tempered by opening-game optimism. They didn't play their best but hung right in there with a Lake Park team usually in the playoffs.

"It's not about what happens but how you handle it," Modelski said.

"We've just got to get up (today) and start working for next week," Zari said. "Look forward. Not backward.

"Eight more to go. Hopefully eight more wins."

mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com