Football: Fernando Lozano comes up big for Elk Grove vs Harlem

Updated: November 5, 2011 4:50PM

Elk Grove’s Fernando Lozano stunned even himself with his three-touchdown performance in the Grenediers’ 39-22 victory over Harlem in the class 7A playoffs in Elk Grove Saturday.

“I really don’t know what to say because I am not used to this,” Lozano said. “I really didn’t do much. It was all my teammates and some luck.”

Lozano and Elk Grove (10-1) dominated Harlem (9-2) as the Grenediers built a 32-0 halftime lead thanks in part to four Harlem turnovers.

Lozano touched the ball only six times in the first half and scored on three of them. The Senior busted off a 25-yard touchdown on a swing pass from Adam O’Malley, scored on deflection from teammate Darren Little for a six-yard touchdown reception and late in the halfn took an option pitch 16 yards for Elk Grove’s third touchdown.

Dejan Basaro took over after that. Basaro, who would finish with 172 yards on 18 carries, scored on runs of one and nine yards to make the Grens start thinking about a running clock.

Harlem then almost caught Elk Grove looking forward to next week’s matchup with Lake Zurich. Harlem scored three touchdowns and a pair of two-point conversions to close to 32-22 with 5:51 to play.

But Little recovered the onside kick and three plays later, Basaro scored on a 33-yard run to put the game away.

“In the first half, everything was clicking,” Basaro said. “We were able to make some big plays when we needed it,”

“We weren’t as big as they were,” Elk Grove coach Brian Doll said. “But our kids were very physical.”

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