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Passing tandem leads Central past Huskies
Hinsdale Central's Brian Owens (5) makes dive through the line of scrimmage for a touchdown against Oak Park-River Forest during their football game. | Dan Luedert~Sun-Times Media
Updated: October 7, 2011 11:55PM
Every opponent has scouted the Hinsdale Central combination of quarterback Brian Owens and receiver Brad Anlauf. Stopping the duo on the field has been a different problem.
Owens and Anlauf proved to be a lethal combination for another week in Hinsdale Central’s 34-29 West Suburban Silver victory at Oak Park-River Forest Friday night.
Anlauf (11 catches, 190 yards) scored the game-winning touchdown on his second touchdown reception of 31 yards in the game on a post-pattern throw from Owens (21-for-39, 280 yards, 2 touchdowns). The touchdown came with 2:44 remaining in the game. OPRF responded with a drive to the Hinsdale 25, but quarterback Jacob Lintvelt fumbled the ball and Kevin Kiyosaki recovered with one minute to go. Anlauf’s first touchdown catch for 31 yards opened the scoring in the second quarter and gave the Red Devils a 14-7 lead.
The victory made the Red Devils (5-2, 2-2) eligible for the playoffs, but ended the postseason hopes for OPRF (2-5, 1-4), which lost its fourth consecutive game.
“I’m really proud of the kids. Their effort was tremendous,” OPRF coach John Hoerster said. “I felt the kids at the line blocked their butts off. It was just a bad exchange. That happens. It happened at the wrong time.”
The Owens-Anlauf show overshadowed a career-best performance by Huskies junior running back Jakari Cammon (31 carries, 233 yards), who set a career high for yardage in a game and rushed for more than 30 times for the third time this season. Cammon scored on touchdown runs of 58 and 8 yards and added a 95-yard kickoff return in the second quarter.
Lintvelt, a sophomore, made his first career start at quarterback for the Huskies and completed 4-of-5 passes for 30 yards and rushed 12 times for 35 yards.
“He’s a fiery kid. He’s a competitor,” said Hoerster, who is in his first year. “He completed good passes and made smart decisions. He provides balance to our offense. Everyone obviously keys on No. 32 (Cammon).”
The game featured a pair of the conference’s top athletes in their position on opposite sides of the field. Anlauf caught passes for more than 100 yards for the fourth consecutive game, while, Cammon continued his streak of rushing for more than 100 yards in every game he has played this season. Cammon’s previous career high in a game was 178 yards rushing against York in Week 4.
Cammon had 128 yards by halftime. His first touchdown run opened the scoring in the game.
Anlauf tied the game with a 78-yard return on a blocked field goal attempt. Peter Foley’s block of Sebastian Madala’s 32-yard attempt was scooped up by Anlauf to tie the game at 7-7.
“It’s hard to choose. I can’t choose,” Anlauf said. “(The blocked return and game-winning touchdown) were both great. Brian Owens has faith in me and keeps throwing me the ball.”
Anlauf attributed his open-field catches to offensive coordinator Jamie Pass.
“Coach Pass runs the offense,” Anlauf said. “He helps the offense. I think I do a lot, but it’s the play calling.”
Hinsdale Central’s run of more than 10 consecutive playoff appearances ended last season, but the Red Devils are one win away from guaranteeing a postseason berth for Rich Tarka, who is in his first season after serving as an assistant last season.
“This was a huge goal for us,” Tarka said. “It’s been our No. 1 goal from Day 1. We knew this team had athleticism and we knew the kids would battle. They gave us all that we could handle. I’m glad we came out with a win.”
The Huskies took a 29-28 lead with 11:51 to go on Jamal Baggett’s 17-yard touchdown run, but OPRF couldn’t keep the lead.
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