Touchdown, Brandon Jenkins.

Touchdown, Brandon Jenkins.

Touchdown, Brandon Jenkins.

Touchdown, Brandon Jenkins.

Hersey‘s PA announcer sounded like a broken record Friday night in a Class 7A football playoff game, but that didn’t annoy Huskies Nation and its pumpkin-orange-helmeted heroes on Halloween.

Hersey’s Ohio University-bound Jenkins rushed for three first-half TDs (a pair of 1-yarders and a 2-yard burst) and added a 3-yard TD run in the third quarter, as 16th-seeded Hersey — up 34-0 at the half — skipped to a 56-0 defeat of 17th-seeded Payton in Arlington Heights.

Oh, and the senior happened to break a program record along the way. His 31-yard gain on the Huskies’ second possession put him at the top of Hersey’s career rushing yardage list.

Jenkins’ surpassed 2,600 career rushing yards on his next carry.

“It means a lot,” said Jenkins after rushing 14 times for 110 yards (107 in the first half) against the Grizzlies (7-3). “It’s a blessing, really.”

His quarterback, junior Jake Nawrot, also set a school mark Friday night, this one for passing yardage in a single season. His 20-yard strike to senior Jackson Wilder (3 catches, 40 yards) upped his 2025 total to 2,427 yards, supplanting the previous mark.

When all was said and thrown, Nawrot amassed 283 yards on 15-of-21 passing, with 271 of those yards coming in the first 24 minutes.

“Happy for both of them,” Hersey coach and graduate Tom Nelson said, adding Jenkins, a third-year varsity player, had played only as a defensive back in his sophomore season.

Hersey (8-2), winners of eight straight games, will face top-seeded Richards (9-1) in Oak Lawn next weekend. Richards beat visiting Edwardsville 33-14 Friday night.

Hersey’s defense Friday night was as impressive as the host school’s offense. Huskies on that side of the ball flew around like hockey players do during a mad-dash line change. Hersey sophomore lineman Johnny Lamonica recorded a sack at Payton’s 5-yard line at 8:21 of the second quarter, setting up Jenkins’ first 1-yard TD run, and had a pair of tackles for loss.

“He’s a dog,” praised Hersey junior linebacker Nick Jelaca, who also made two stops behind the line of scrimmage and broke up a pass in the first half, as Hersey limited Payton to 48 rushing yards and 32 passing yards before intermission.

“We’re close as a defense, really close,” he added. “We play fast, we’re connected, and we’re on the same page at all times.”

Said Lamonica, standing nearby: “We explode to the ball. We execute and we do it with intensity.”

Grant McKinney, another sophomore defensive lineman, sacked Payton’s QB in the end zone for a safety, upping the lead to 43-0 at 4:41 of the third quarter.

“Our resilient defense keeps getting better and better,” said Nelson, alluding to a defense that entered Friday’s action allowing only 16 points per game — after yielding 43 and 35 points in its two losses to open the season.

Huskies sophomore backup QB Levi McEwen tossed a 2-yard TD to junior wideout Owen Pham, and sophomore Gustavo Quiroz capped off the scoring with a 2-yard TD run late in the fourth quarter.

Nawrot’s 6-yard TD pass to junior wide receiver Josh Riggs (game highs of five receptions and 107 yards) opened the scoring. The two connected for another score — a 53-yarder — with 1:03 left in the first half.

Huskies junior Austin Schultz finished with three catches for 61 yards, and junior Zel Walton snared a pair of Nawrot’s tight spirals for 38 yards.

Senior running back Samuel Merrill rushed for 55 yards on 15 carries for Payton, which won its first six games this fall.