Last season, a rigorous nonconference schedule seemed to bend the will of the Glenbard West football team.

Ultimately that led to Glenbard West missing the playoffs in a 4-5 campaign. The early season schedule seemed to set up for a similar scenario to possibly play out again.

But this version of the Glenbard West football team simply isn’t having it.

Faced with significant challenges in each of their first two games, Glenbard West (2-0) has been the one making opponents bend to its will and on Saturday that allowed it to collect a hard-fought 27-21 victory over Joliet Catholic.

“They are resilient. The senior leadership is phenomenal,” Glenbard West coach Chad Hetlet said. “We’ve got a great group of seniors that are just a can do kind of crew. We just have guys who step up and make plays.”

One of those guys that stepped up and made plays was senior quarterback Jack Walti. Filling in for injured starter AJ Rayford, Walti had a relatively quiet day for the first three quarters.

But after Joliet Catholic (0-2) knotted the game at 21 on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Lucas Simulick to Craig Pearson on a fourth-and-goal play with 5:18 to play, Walti stepped into his moment.

He delivered a dart to Brady Johnson and Johnson ran away from the defense for a 58-yard touchdown. Glenbard West missed the extra point but held a 27-21 lead.

“We thought that play was going to be a big one all week,” Walti said. “And we hit it at the right time. My team just trusted me. They have had my back the whole week.”

Glenbard West successfully pulled off an onside squib kick to keep possession after the touchdown, but then had a field goal attempt blocked with just over two minutes to play that would have sealed the outcome.

Joliet Catholic, who was sporting a much more pass-heavy attack than usual, marched down the field quickly, getting inside the 15-yard line of Glenbard West. But the defense clamped up, forcing a fumble that Joliet Catholic recovered, then recorded a sack before finally forcing an incomplete pass on fourth down to complete the victory.

Glenbard West sits at 2-0 before entering what appears to be a brutal West Suburban Silver conference race and that cushion in the win column might come in handy down the line. But all Hetlet could express after the game was simply relief.

“I don’t want to play Joliet Catholic. It’s a lose, lose for us. We should beat a team that’s a 5A/6A, but its also Joliet Catholic and they are a powerhouse.” Hetlet said. “Those kids are born in the weight room.”

Joliet Catholic hasn’t started 0-2 since 2019 and faces a pretty serious climb on its remaining schedule with four teams currently 2-0 to go along with Marist and Providence.

“We are working with what we have,” Joliet Catholic coach Jake Jaworski said. “People have some misconceptions, like, we just want to run and three yards and a cloud of dust. But at the end of the day, we are going to put our guys in position to give us a chance to win.”

Simulick finished with 270 yards passing with Jayden Armstrong (nine catches, 153 yards, two touchdowns) getting the lion’s share of that work including a spectacular 37-yard touchdown reception in the first half.

https://www.shawlocal.com/friday-night-drive/2025/08/30/glenbard-west-uses-timely-defense-big-offensive-plays-to-get-walk-off-victory-over-batavia/