Glenbard West blows by Downers North

Glenbard West’s typically dominating defense earned another description in the Hilltoppers’ regular season-ending 49-7 win at Downers Grove North.

Amazingly opportunistic.

The Hilltoppers (9-0, 6-0 in the WSC Silver) scored three touchdowns in 53 seconds to turn a 14-0 third quarter lead into a decisive 35-0 advantage. The defense produced the last two off fumble returns, first by Joe Marconi for 20 yards off a botched Trojans’ handoff. Two plays later, defensive lineman Ruben Dunbar scooped up another fumble in the backfield and rambled 22 yards to the end zone.

“The ball was there and I just made a play on it,” Dunbar said. “It feels good that we can score too instead of the offense having to score every time.”

“It almost looked like the exact same play,” Glenbard West coach Chad Hetlet said. “I’ve never seen that. That was just one of those deals, opportunistic defense with guys always around the ball. And when you’re around the ball, good things happen. I’ve got to guess we’re around 30 turnovers defensively on the year, maybe more.”

Joe Zito’s four-yard touchdown run preceded the fumble returns, as the Hilltoppers came alive from a sluggish first half.

“That put the game away for us,” Hetlet said of the 53-second surge. “We told the kids to come out in the third quarter and play like a championship team. We were late coming out for the second half because the captains were talking to them, and we told them ‘take as much time as you want to straighten the team out.’ And I think people woke up.”

The Hilltoppers’ offense received a jolt of energy with the return of quarterback Justice Odom, who had been sidelined for a month by injury. Odom completed his first four passes of the game, including a 14-yard touchdown pass to Nathan Marcus that put the Hilltoppers ahead for good at 7-0 with 9:22 left in the first quarter.

“It felt really great to get back in the swing of things,” Odom said. “For the first time (back) we made some mistakes and some of it was on me, but in the second half we came out strong.”

Odom finished 9 of 11 passing for 72 yards, and received help from his running backs. Avery Balogh (9 carries, 101 yards) broke a 66-yard touchdown run to put Glenbard West up 14-0 early in the second quarter, and Kendall Johnson’s 88 yards on nine carries included a 20-yard TD run to hike the lead to 42-0 with 34.7 seconds left in the third quarter.

Will Brewer added a 42-yard touchdown dash with 4:14 remaining in the game for a 49-0 lead.

The Hilltoppers’ defense allowed just 50 points in the entire regular season, and Downers North (2-7) managed just 135 yards of total offense on the night. The Trojans’ lone score came on special teams, a 97-yard kickoff return by Ryan Henry with four minutes left in the game.

“I feel like we still haven’t played to our full potential on offense and defense,” Odom said, “but we’ll definitely get there.”

“This has us pumped up for (the playoffs) next week, to try to make it to state,” Dunbar said.

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