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38 | October 17, 2019 | The highland park landmark sports
hplandmarkdaily.com
Giants stay undefeated in CSL North with win over Niles North
6
Leah Vann
Freelance Reporter
The first two drives
of Highland Park's win
over Niles North on Friday,
Oct. 11, at Wolters
Field set the stage for a
shootout, but the Giants
quickly (4-3 overall, 3-0
conference) ran away
with a 57-25 victory behind
four touchdowns by
junior fullback Giovanni
Volpentesta.
The Giants are making
their case for the playoffs,
and Friday night's victory
adds fuel to the fire going
into the matchups against
Deerfield (5-2, 2-1) and
Maine West (6-1, 3-0) to
close out the regular season.
“Niles North is a dangerous
team every time we
play them,” Giants coach
David Lindquist said. "We
just had to keep playing.
That first drive where they
got their touchdown came
after a great kickoff return
by their guy and set themselves
up for a lot of success.
We made some adjustments
and went from
there.”
On the third play of the
game, Volpentesta found
the hole up the middle,
accelerating downfield
for a 56-yard touchdown
run. Junior Max Mauer
added to that score with a
2-point conversion to put
the Giants up 8-0.
“We kind of found a
soft spot we thought we
could take advantage of,”
Lindquist said. “Giovanni
is our No. 1 guy getting
the ball off that edge.”
The Vikings (2-5, 0-3)
answered quickly with a
15-yard touchdown run,
but the Giants made sure
Niles North didn’t see the
end zone again until the
CSL North standings
Maine West 6-1
overall, 3-0 conf.
Highland Park 4-3, 3-0
Deerfield 5-2, 2-1
Vernon Hills 4-3, 1-2
Niles North 2-5, 0-3
Maine East 0-7, 0-3
second half.
Volpentesta scored his
remaining three touchdowns
in similar fashion,
scoring on 20-, 50- and
68-yard touchdown runs.
Volpentesta finished the
half with 239 yards rushing.
“The linemen were
blocking amazingly,
the wide receivers were
blocking amazingly, so
the corners wouldn’t come
down on me,” Volpentesta
said. “I just read my holes
and I ran. Everything was
open, it was amazing.”
Sophomore Evan
Bloom had his turn next,
rolling to the outer edge
and spinning into the end
zone on a 13-yard touchdown
run to put the Giants
up 36-7 with 2:39 remaining
in the opening half.
Jaden Holzman’s interception
on Niles North's
next drive put them on
the Vikings’ 34-yard line.
Giants junior quarterback
David Crane then ran the
ball to the 12 before connecting
with Mauer on an
11-yard pass to put the
Giants within one yard of
extending their lead..
Mauer punched in the
final touchdown of the
half for a 43-7 halftime
advantage. Sam Fishman
knocked the ball free
from Vikings’ quarterback
Chris Bland’s grasp. Giants’
Erick De La Cruz
recovered it, giving the
Giants possession deep
in Vikings’ territory, but
Nate Cohen wraps up the Niles North quarterback in the Giants’ 57-25 win on Friday, Oct. 11, at Wolters Field.
Margo Grogan/22nd Century Media
Linescore
the Giants were unable to
capitalize.
Even when Volpentesta
wasn't running the
ball, guys like Bloom and
Mauer were able to make
big plays for the Giants on
the ground.
“Evan is a really good
1 2 3 4 F
HP 16 27 7 7 57
NN 7 0 12 6 25
Three Stars of the game
1. Giovanni Volpentesta, RB — 239 rushing yards, 4 TD
2. Jaden Holzman, LB — 6 tackles, 1 INT
3. Max Mauer, WR — 2 TD
downhill runner so when
we want to run the ball
inside, we can trust he
can be a reliable player,”
Lindquist said. “Max is
another change-up in the
backfield for what we’re
doing with our quarterback,
we trust him to get
yards when we need him.”
The Vikings returned
with a 47-yard touchdown
reception in the second
half to make it 43-13. In
an effort to keep the momentum
going, the Niles
North recovered its own
onside kick, but nothing
came from the drive.
The Vikings scored two
more times late in the
third and fourth quarters,
but it was never enough
to keep the game close.
Mauer caught his second
touchdown reception
in the third quarter, then
Tyler Crann made the final
touchdown grab in
the fourth to wrap up the
scoring.
Sam Fishman and Jaden
Holzman commanded the
Giants’ defense. Holzman
finished the game with
six tackles, including two
solo and one for a loss of
three while also grabbing
an interception. Fishman
finished the game with
three tackles, a sack and a
forced fumble.
“Every time we’ve gotten
physical is when we’ve
been successful,” Volpentesta
said. “Highland Park
is better than everyone
thinks. We’re coming to
win conference.”