Hopkins, Titans stop Stevenson
The blood lines for Glenbrook South senior quarterback Ryan Hopkins are about as good as it can get for Illinois high school football.
Hopkins is the son of legendary former Maine South coach Phil Hopkins, and he showed the poise and leadership typical for a coach's son in the fourth quarter of the Titans' home contest with visiting Stevenson.
"Any time you are a coach's kid you understand the game a little bit," said Glenbrook South coach Mike Noll. "Ryan has grown into the position and he can sling it a little - I thought he made some very nice throws tonight."
The poise and confidence from Hopkins was huge for the Titans in the fourth quarter. It was Hopkins read on a key pass play of 52 yards to senior Alex Langill that set up, what turned out to be the winning score as Glenbrook South downed Stevenson for the second consecutive year 28-21 Friday night.
"We had seen (Stevenson's) safeties come up and our coaches kept telling us that the play was wide open," said Hopkins as the Titans improved to 2-0. "A drive like that is the kind that can define our season and it shows we can come back."
Stevenson fell to 0-2 for year in a row.
"We can't hang our heads after this game tonight," said senior quarterback Zach Wujcik. "We have Lake Forest next week for Homecoming and that is a big game for us. We can turn this around."
Wujcik and the Stevenson offense found the running game that didn't deliver the previous week against Loyola. Junior Mark Weisman ran behind the Patriots' line of Ben Sampson, Tim Peota, Tom Munger, Ryan Urbon and Justin Fauntleroy, rushing for 73 yards on 23 carries and a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter that put Stevenson up 14-0.
Vernon Hills 41, S. Elgin 3: The decision to run the ball was made early by Vernon Hills coach Tony Monken, and he had not problem sticking with the plan as the Cougars (2-0) defeated the South Elgin Storm 41-3 on Friday night.
On their first possession and only possession in the first quarter, the Cougars ran for 70 yards, most of which came from Ernie Choi up the middle for 47 yards, capped by a 2 yard touchdown run from Sebastian Evans.
In the second quarter, the Storm (0-2) defense limited the threat from Choi, but the Cougars found the holes again in their final 2 possessions of the half as quarterback PJ Marsek ran into the end zone twice on the first play from scrimmage with a 49 yard and a 12-yard run.
"We're a running team," Monken said. "We rushed for almost 400 yards last week and we almost did that again this week. We're a triple threat offense, but our running game is key."
The final touchdown of the half was set up by a Killian Rayl interception while the Storm allowed 4 turnovers in total with the Cougars converting on two.
"You can't turn the ball over four times and expect to win," said Storm coach Dale Schabert.
DaVaris Daniels gave the Cougars a 28-0 lead in the third quarter on a 60-yard run while Marsek later threw a 22-yard TD pass to Evans in the quarter.
Nate Moraton ran for a 25-yard TD to finish the scoring for the Cougars.
Choi rushed for 106 yards for the Cougars, who finished with 362 as a team.
- Seth Hancock