HP101019

38 | October 10, 2019 | The highland park landmark SPORTS
hplandmarkdaily.com
Defense dominates in Giants victory
6
Nick Frazier, Sports Editor
How a team responds
with its back against the
wall reveals the mental
toughness of its players.
Highland Park was down
seven points in a defensive
battle, and conference foe
Vernon Hills was in the red
zone early in the third quarter.
With the Giants offense
having yet to pick up a first
down in the game, it was a
crucial point in the team’s
season.
The Giants responded,
forcing a Cougars turnover
and outscoring their opponents
16-0 the rest of the
way in a 16-7 win on Friday,
Oct. 4, at Vernon Hills
Athletic Complex.
Erick De La Cruz intercepted
Vernon Hills quarterback
Thomas Monken to
keep it a one-score game,
and fullback Giovanni Volpentesta
(12 carries, 107
yards) scored a 68-yard
touchdown run on the ensuing
drive to swing the
momentum in the Giants’
(3-3, 2-0 CSL North) favor.
Highland Park had -5
yards of offense in the first
half, as the Cougars’ (4-2,
1-1) linebackers filled the
gaps and shut down the run
game. Giants coach David
Lindquist swears all that
changed in the second half
was the team’s attitude and
effort.
“We had a lot of opportunities
to make plays in the
first half, we missed one or
two blocks here and there,”
Lindquist said. “It wasn’t
a schematic thing, it was
a thing that our guys just
weren’t getting where we
needed to be. We got on
them and told them they
have to respond if they
want to win this thing. The
good news was we were
only down 7-0 so we were
able to continue to lay it on
them.”
Sam Fishman, a senior
on the HPHS offensive and
defensive line, agrees with
his head coach.
“[Offensive line coach
Ed Garza] said ‘There’s
nothing schematic that we
can do to fix it, we just got
to change our effort and
attitude,’” Fishman said.
“We came out really flat in
the first quarter, we kind of
just accepted what came to
us. In the second half we
made a conscious decision
to go out and fight harder
than they did, and that really
helped us out.”
While the offense struggled
throughout the first
half, the Giants defensive
unit kept the game close.
Jaden Holzman had a big
sack to force a Vernon Hills
punt in Highland Park territory
in the first quarter.
The Cougars then started
the second quarter 11 yards
away from the end zone after
a couple of big pass play
to close the first. A Vernon
Hills holding penalty and
great tackling by Holzman
and De La Cruz resulted in
a turnover on downs.
The Giants’ defensive
gameplan was to constantly
pressure Monken, a quarterback
who loves to run. That
also meant Monken had less
time to throw the ball deep
to 6-foot-5 tight end Jack
Barszcz. Highland Park’s
secondary held Barszcz to
five catches for 93 yards,
including just one 14-yard
catch in the second half.
“Our gameplay was to
hit the quarterback,” Fishman
said. “They love to
throw the ball, they got
a really tall receiver who
they love to chuck it up too
deep. The more we hit him,
Line score
the more he’s going to do
quick throws, he’s going to
want to get rid of it faster.
We studied a lot, we do a
lot of film, we pick up on
what they do. We could tell
with pretty decent accuracy
when they would run and
in which direction, so that
really helped us in the long
run in this game.”
Highland Park would allow
a Cougars touchdown
with 5:18 left in the opening
half. Vernon Hills put
together a seven-play drive
that ended in a 22-yard
touchdown pass.
It looked like the Cougars
would add on to their
lead to start the second half
until De La Cruz intercepted
a tipped Monken pass at
the Giants’ 12-yard line.
“He plays hard, he’s
coachable,” Lindquist said
of the junior. “Every now
and then I have to come
after him for something,
he usually responds. I can
coach him up and he makes
good plays.”
Then, on a third-and-2,
1 2 3 4 F
HP 0 0 16 0 16
VH 0 7 0 0 7
Three Stars
1. Erick De La Cruz, DL — 2 sacks, 1 INT
2. Giovanni Volpentesta, FB/LB — 107 rushing yards, 2 TD,
1 INT
3. Zion Griffin, RB — 54 rushing yards, go-ahead 2-point
conversion
CSL North Division
Maine West 5-1 overall 2-0 conf.
Highland Park 3-3 2-0
Vernon Hills 4-2 1-1
Deerfield 4-2 1-1
Niles North 2-4 0-2
Maine East 0-6 0-2
Volpentesta burst through
the middle of the field,
made a cut and raced his
way to the end zone. Zion
Griffin (14 carries, 54
yards) converted the twopoint
try, and suddenly
Highland Park had an 8-7
lead with four minutes left
in the third quarter.
On Vernon Hills’ next
possession, Volpentesta
picked off Monken, and the
Giants linebacker scampered
down to the VHHS
14-yard line. Volpentesta
then punched the ball in
himself five plays later, and
the fullback converted the
two-point try to make it a
two-score game after three
quarters.
Highland Park and Vernon
Hills then traded punts
before the Cougars put a
long drive together. Unfortunately,
two Vernon Hills
receivers went down with
injuries on the drive and
had to be taken off the field
on a stretcher.
Not only were the Giants
worried about the Cougar
Sam Fishman wraps up the Vernon Hills ball carrier in
the Giants’ 16-7 win on Friday, Oct. 4, at Vernon Hills Athletic
Complex. Photos by Phil Bach/22nd Century Media
Giovanni Volpentesta crosses the goal line with lineman
Bennett Crane (74) leading the way for Volpentesta’s
second touchdown of the game.
players’ health, but the injuries
took up about 25 minutes
of time total. Highland
Park’s defense could have
easily lost momentum during
that time.
“It’s tough because I
think we’re all feeling for
those guys,” Lindquist
said. “Just trying to keep
our guys focused, eyes on
the prize. We have a few
minutes left, we can’t get
complacent. We have to
come back out and keep
playing physical, I think
they responded well.”
Sure enough, the Giants
later forced a turnover on
downs with less than three
minutes to play. Highland
Park’s offense then picked
up a couple of first downs
to ice the game.
The Giants now are tied
for first in the CSL North
with three conference
games remaining. Up next
is a home matchup versus
Niles North on Friday, Oct.
11.
With three games at
Wolters Field to close out
the season, the Giants are
itching to get back to the
playoffs after a 4-5 season
in 2018. Lindquist insists
the team must take it one
game at a time to keep this
momentum going.
“We’ve got to play each
week like the Super Bowl,”
Lindquist said. “We can’t
look forward, we can’t
look back, it’s got to be the
next play, the next game.
We have momentum, that’s
not to say Niles North isn’t
going to take it next week.
We’ll enjoy this for 48
hours, we’ll get right back
in the meeting room and
draw up our plan for next
week.”