HP_092718

38 | September 27, 2018 | The highland park landmark sports
hplandmark.com
Giants overcome Cougars’ 456 passing yards for win
Brittany Kapa, Sports Editor make it special for them.
They work harder than
The Giants saw several
everyone on that team and
firsts, some good and some
they push us to work twice
bad, at the mid-way point
as hard as them.”
of their season.
Highland Park dominated
early, and often, and
Zion Griffin had a clear
focus of what he wanted
even held on for its 42-32
to accomplish against Vernon
Hills, the sophomore
homecoming win, despite
running back wanted to
a Cougars fourth-quarter
make homecoming one to
onslaught, Friday, Sept.
remember for his senior
21, at Wolters Field.
teammates.
Highland Park’s (3-2)
He accomplished that. win over Central Suburban
Griffin rushed for 173 League North conference
yards on 19 carries and recorded
three of the Giants full of ups and downs, but
foe Vernon Hills (2-3) was
six touchdowns. Those the first three quarters and
were also his first TDs of the first two minutes of the
the season.
fourth were owned by the
“Honestly, I just felt like Giants.
I had to step up today,” Griffin’s effort was
Griffin said. “It’s these
guy’s, the seniors, last
homecoming and I want to
noticed by not only the
crowd, and in the onegame
absence of Tom
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Motzko, but by coach David
Lindquist.
“Zion is a talented kid,”
he said. “If we can get
him the ball and space he
can do some good things
for us. We knew tonight
that without Tom that we
would need to feature him
a little more.
“[Jared] Bloom got
some carries as well and
looked good with the football.
Zion has some real
explosive play potential.”
That explosive play potential
was notable when
Griffin came up with a 91-
yard return in the middle
of the third quarter. The
sophomore broke a tackle,
and the Giants offensive
line held off Vernon Hills
special teams unit to get
Griffin a clear path to the
end zone.
“I’m not going to lie, I
thought he had me for a
second, but once I broke
free it was just run, that’s
all I know,” Griffin, also a
track runner, said.
Bloom gained 66 yards
for the Giants on 21 carries
Friday night and quarterback
Michael Rooney
(4-for-10, 82 yards) looked
more comfortable in the
pocket and threw for two
touchdowns and scored one
of his own on a 5-yard rush.
“It’s one of those things
that as a quarterback you
want to feel loose and kind
of have a backyard-football
mentality,” Lindquist
said. “Tonight he was
comfortable and was able
to do so.”
Rooney got two big
passes off, one to senior
wide receiver Giancarlo
Volpentesta for 32 yards
and another to Tyler Lens,
a senior, for 34.
Senior Noa Morgenstern
scored Highland Park’s
last touchdown, on a 28-
yard rush, with 11 minutes,
50 seconds left if the
fourth. Junior kicker Maya
Taitz saw some playing
time and picked up a 25-
yard field goal and two
others point-after attempts
during the game.
Junior middle linebacker
Joey Finfer also recorded
his first career interception
just before the end of the
first half.
“I was pretty excited,”
Finfer said. “I got up and
everyone was around me.
I replaced Tom so it was
kind of crazy that I just did
that.”
Fourth-quarter breakdown
It wasn’t all sunshine
and roses for the Giants
though.
Lindquist put it best
Giancarlo Volpentesta (right) intercepts a Vernon Hills
pass during the Giants homecoming 42-32 win Friday,
Sept. 21, at Wolters Field in Highland Park. Neil
Ament/22nd Century Media
Vernon Hills vs. Highland Park
1 2 3 4 F
Vernon Hills 0 8 0 24 32
Highland 7 14 14 7 42
Park
Top Performers:
1. Zion Griffin, RB – 19 carries, 173 yards, 3 TDs
The sophomore running back found open space thanks
to the offensive line and scored three of the Giants six
touchdowns.
2. Giancarlo Volpentesta, WR – Interception, 48 yards
The senior wide receiver was on his toes during the
game and not only provided positive offensive yards
but defensively provided good coverage.
3. Joey Finfer, MLB – Interception
The junior middle linebacker recorded his first
interception of the season with 20 seconds left in the
first half.
when he described his
team’s performance in the
fourth quarter.
“When we’re focused
we executed,” he said.
“When we were unfocused
we did not.”
Vernon Hills took advantage
of Highland
Park’s second-string defense
and scored four unanswered
touchdowns to
end the fourth quarter.
The pass-heavy Cougars
only ran three rushing
plays, all by quarterback
Derek Jarrell, for a fouryard
gain in total.
Jarrell (46-for-71, 456
yards) finally started to
connect with his receivers
in a series of quick-pass
plays in the fourth quarter
to cut the Cougars deficit
from 34 at the start of the
quarter to 10.