Highland Park continues to roll

Updated: October 6, 2011 11:24PM

The recent formula for success that had produced three straight wins remained the same for Highland Park Thursday night against Niles North, when the Giants put the ball in the hands of a capable running back and let him carry the workload.

It just turned out that the running back was not Andrew Sledd, the senior that had run for a total of 16 scores in Highland Park’s previous three games.

With Sledd sidelined in the second-half with an injury, Blake Cubria stepped up and accounted for the game’s only score, plunging in from two yards out midway through the fourth quarter to give the Giants a 6-0 Central Suburban North victory in Skokie.

Cubria, who had just two carries in the first-half, finished with 66 yards on 19 carries, including a stretch where his number was called 15 straight times in the final quarter, before quarterback Max Mordini took a knee on the game’s final play.

“The more touches that I got, the easier it was for me to run and I adjusted easier to the defense,” Cubria explained. “I really have not gotten a lot of chances this year, so I kind of showed what I got today. The offensive line really picked it up and started firing out low.”

Cubria’s TD was set up by an interception by Josh Sterns and it allowed Highland Park (4-3, 3-0) to take over in Vikings’ territory for the winning drive.

The Giants were able to limit Niles North’s air attack to just one completion for 10 yards, as Alan Kslazek also picked off two Vikings’ pass attempts.

Before his injury, Sledd rushed for 61 yards on 14 carries.

Despite the lack of a passing game, Niles North (2-5, 1-2) was able to move the ball on the ground. Senior running back Oshayne Brown gained 156 yards on 24 carries.

The Vikings defense forced four turnovers, including a fumble recovery by Juvane Spence and interceptions by Brown, David Friedman and Kris Achim.

“We had so many mistakes and turnovers in the first-half,” said Highland Park coach Hal Chiodo. “Every time we would have a good play, we would have a mistake; we were really hurting ourselves that way. We really had to change our game plan mid-stream, because what we were doing was not working.”

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