No guts, no glory. Unfortunately, with guts, glory is not guaranteed.
Highland Park football attempted a two-point conversion to try to steal a house win against unbeaten Maine West. The gutsy try got here up short, and the Warriors escaped with a 20-19 victory Friday, Sept. 22, in Des Plaines.
The Giants nearly got here all the way in which back after facing a deficit of 14-3 within the third quarter and 20-10 within the fourth. Senior Sebastian Vybral booted a 32-yard field goal with 4 minutes to play, and senior quarterback David Finfer scored a touchdown on a 2-yard run with just below two minutes remaining to establish the conversion try.
Finfer tossed to running back Nikko Rosenbloom who was stopped just before piercing the goal line.
The loss drops Highland Park to 2-3 overall and 0-1 within the Central Suburban League North.
Maine West scored first with a first-quarter touchdown, and the Giants answered with a 28-yard field goal by Vybral. The rating stayed 7-3 until halftime.
The Warriors added two scoring runs within the second half, but every time the Giants responded. Finfer scored the primary of his two scoring runs within the third quarter to make it a 14-10 ballgame. Within the fourth, Vybral’s field goal and Finfer’s second scoring run closed the gap.
Finfer finished with 66 yards rushing and 163 passing. Sophomore Lucas Gordon led the receivers with 6 catches for 85 yards, while senior Johnny Walker had 5 for 49.
Senior Tyler Gleyzer was energetic on each side of the ball with 33 yards rushing and two tackles for loss as a linebacker. Senior Alex Knight tallied 8 tackles, while Eli Moore and Josh Pasternak had 7 apiece.
On their quest to get to a playoff-eligible five wins, Highland Park hosts Niles North (2-3, Sept. 29) and Niles West (4-1, Oct. 6) before traveling to Maine East (1-4, Oct. 13) and Vernon Hills (2-3, Oct. 20) to complete the regular season.
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