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HARVARD – Harvard hung with Johnsburg just long enough on Friday for thoughts of an upset to begin creeping into Dan Horne Field.
For a quarter, the Hornets' defense was flying, they were hitting Alex Peete in the backfield, the typically humming Johnsburg offense was sputtering and even when the Skyhawks did get near the end zone, they weren't converting.
Harvard had the No. 4 team in Class 4A shutout through the first quarter.
"That 0-0 score at the end of the first quarter, it kind of hit us," Peete said. "We were like 'OK, we need to be doing better than this.' We're used to coming up early like 30-0 first quarter, things like that. Just really letting that kick in and say 'OK let's go, it's time to go and time to roll.'"
After a scoreless first quarter, Johnsburg put up 30 points in the second and ran away to a 53-0 Kishwaukee River Conference victory.
"As soon as we started communicating up front and we got our energy going again, we were in good shape," Johnsburg coach Dan Deboeuf said. "It just took us a few drives to get that going. Thank goodness our defense is the way it is. They're a pretty special group."
The Skyhawks (8-0, 5-0) outgained the Hornets, 466-15, with most of Harvard's offensive gains being offset by five sacks.
Johnsburg got into Harvard territory on its first three drives, twice having first-and-goal at the 9, but came empty on all three with a missed field goal and two turnovers on downs.
"We just started a little low with our energy," DeBoeuf said.
The Johnsburg defense kept Harvard from getting anything going and eventually the offense found its footing.
Peete put the Skyhawks on the board with a 9-yard touchdown run at 9:43 of the second quarter and then things really got rolling.
Just over two minutes later, after the defense forced a three-and-out, Riley Buchanan needed just one play – a 42-yard keeper up the middle – to make it 14-0.
On the first play of Harvard's next drive, Hornets' quarterback Dylan Stephens was intercepted by Cameron Interrante, who took it 25 yards fo a score.
After another defensive stand, Harvard snapped the ball out the back of its own end zone for a safety. When Johnsburg got the ball back, it quickly moved into the red zone and Peete punched it in from three yards out, making it 30-0 with 3:57 left in the second quarter.
The Skyhawks had scored 30 points in the span of 5:46 and any chance of an upset was gone.
"Obviously, they were pretty pissed off," Interrante said of the coaches' message between quarters. "They were yelling at us and we knew we had to do something. We just changed our whole attitude and picked it up."
A second-half touchdown by Peete, another safety and two touchdowns from backup tailback Jesse Mercado made it 53-0.
Asked what changed for the Hornets (1-7, 0-5), after the first quarter, coach Sean Saylor said, "That's a good question. I think maybe a little bit of size and speed mismatch got to us and made it a little difficult to maintain what we did in those first three series.
"They're a darn good football team and have been all year. They're getting everybody's best shot every week and we brought our best shot and we got wore down and they hit some explosive plays and just wore us down."
UNSUNG HERO
Cameron Interrante, Johnsburg, Jr. LB
Interrante's 25-yard interception returned for a touchdown put the Skyhawks up 21-0, part of the visitors' big 30-point second quarter.
QUICK STATS
Johnsburg 53, Harvard 0
Johnsburg 0 - 30 - 16 - 7 - 53
Harvard 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0
Second quarter
J- Peete 9 run (Buchanan pass failed), 9:43
J- Buchanan 42 run (Bell pass from Buchanan), 7:30
J- Interrante 25 INT return (Jayko kick), 7:22
J- Safety, 5:06
J- Peete 3 run (Jayko kick), 3:57
Third quarter
J- Peete 16 run (Jayko kick), 9:51
J- Safety, 9:31
J- Mercado 20 run (Jayko kick), 8:45
Fourth quarter
J- Mercado 49 run (Jayko kick), 3:45
Individual Statistics
RUSHING- Johnsburg: Peete 21-105, Mercado 8-100, Buchanan 3-34, Helma 3-12, Jayko 1-2, Frazier 1-1. Totals: 37-254. Harvard: Busse 1-22, Pena 10-12, Joyce 11-7, Wallner 6-4, Stephens 5-minus-34. Totals: 33-11.
PASSING- Johnsburg: Buchanan 15-27-0-212. Harvard: Stephens 1-4-2-4, Busse 0-3-0-0.
RECEIVING- Johnsburg: LoDolce 7-101, Bell 3-62, Curry 2-26, Jordan 3-13. Harvard: Busse 1-4. TOTAL TEAM YARDS: Johnsburg 466, Harvard 15.
AND ANOTHER THING...
Each team had a player leave the game due to injury in the second quarter. Harvard’s Cole Miller tried to dive on an onside kick, colliding helmet-to-helmet with a opposing player. Miller stayed down for a few minutes as he was examined carefully before leaving the field. A couple plays later, Johnsburg’s Jarred Bergren came off the field, immediately saying he had a dislocated shoulder and did not return.