It took Hinsdale Central’s Rich Zajeski a month to get back on the football field after sustaining a high ankle sprain. It took him less than a minute to find the end zone.
Zajeski, a 5-10, 185-pound senior running back had first-half touchdown runs of 62 and 67 yards as the Red Devils shocked Bolingbrook 35-14 in a second-round Class 8A playoff game Friday night in Hinsdale.
On the second play from scrimmage, Zajeski (11 carries, 175 yards) broke through the line and sprinted for a score to put Hinsdale Central (9-2) on top.
“I’m not going to lie, I didn’t think it would happen that fast,” Zajeski said. “It was so hard to miss games because I love the guys on this team. But I made up for it.”
After linebacker Brendan Sullivan and the defense stopped Bolingbrook (10-1) on a fourth-and-inches, a 29-yard Zajeski run to the Raiders’ 1, set up a touchdown plunge by Jake Knowles.
On the first play of the second quarter, Zajeski broke loose again and went 67 yards to put the Red Devils up 21-0.
“He is such a big part of what we do,” Hinsdale coach Mike DiMatteo said of Zajeski. “He is a major difference-maker. And [assistant coach] Tom Dorrance did a fantastic job with the defense.”
Bolingbrook got on the board late in the half on a 35-yard pass from Brad Geever to Anthony Greene. But Hinsdale answered as quarterback John Whitelaw completed two passes for 29 yards and ran twice for 34 more, scoring from five yards with 56 second to play to make it 28-7 at the break.
Early in the third quarter, Bolingbrook’s third turnover, a fumble was recovered by Eric Alexander, led to an eight-yard scoring run by Whitelaw to put Hinsdale up 35-7.
“From the first run that Rich had, we sent a message that they were not going to come in and waltz all over us,” said Whitelaw, who carried 19 times for 136 yards. “We were confident that we could do what we had to do. I really don’t think they saw a triple option like we run.
“There are no words to describe what having Rich back means. He adds another whole dimension.”
In the first half, Allan Cameron recovered a fumble and David Lutz had an interception.
“During captain’s time, we talked to the team,” said Sullivan, who had a cast removed from his wrist earlier in the day. “It was going to be the team — offense, defense and special teams. No one gave us a chance. It was us against the world.”
The Raiders added a fourth-quarter touchdown on a 29-yard pass from Geever to Chris Williams.
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