The Willowbrook football team opened its West Suburban Gold Conference season with its 26-9 victory over Leyden in Northlake on Friday, Sept. 4. The Warriors raised their overall record to 2-1 with the win.
Willowbrook trailed the Eagles (1-2 overall, 0-1 in the conference) 9-7 after Leyden made a field goal early in the third quarter. The Warriors then closed the quarter with a burst of three touchdowns to take their 26-9 lead. Willowbrook and Leyden played the fourth quarter as flashes of lighting appeared in the distance, northwest of Leyden’s stadium. The lightning remained more than 10 miles away, allowing the game to continue.
Nick Hildreth earned the 100th win as Willowbrook’s head coach with the triumph over Leyden. Hildreth, who played for the Warriors and graduated from Willowbrook in 2000, has been the team’s head coach since the 2011 season. The Warriors struggled through an 0-9 campaign in Hildreth’s first season. Willowbrook’s program rebounded from that winless season to post a 6-4 record and earn an IHSA playoff berth in 2012. Hildreth has guided the Warriors to the playoffs in 11 seasons. The Warriors have earned 13 post-season victories during Hildreth’s tenure.
Willowbrook scored the first touchdown of the game in Northlake on a 21-yard pass from junior quarterback Nate Jerkovic to senior Josiah Marlowe, who caught the ball near the goal line. Senior Ben Swanson made the extra-point kick to give the Warriors a 7-0 lead with 2:02 left in the first quarter.
With 18.5 seconds left in the second quarter, Swanson attempted a 27-yard field goal. Leyden blocked the kick, and an Eagle picked up the ball off the turf at his team’s 15-yard line and raced 85 yards for a touchdown. Leyden couldn’t cleanly execute the snap on the extra-point try, leaving the Warriors with a 7-6 lead with just 3.9 seconds remaining in the first half.
Willowbrook sophomore Jackson Dyers couldn’t handle the kickoff to start the second half, and the Eagles recovered the loose ball at the Warriors’ 28-yard line. Leyden’s ensuing offensive series ended with a 32-yard field goal that gave the Eagles a 9-7 lead with 9:02 to play in the third quarter.
Dyers quickly made amends for his fumble. Jerkovic was sidelined by an injury, and Dyers stepped in to handle the Warriors’ quarterback duties in the second half. Barely one minute after Leyden took the lead, Dyers fired a 24-yard touchdown pass to Marlowe to lift Willowbrook to a 13-9 advantage. An incomplete pass on the subsequent conversion attempt left the Warriors with their 13-9 lead with 8:01 left in the third quarter.
Minutes later, Leyden punted the ball, and Willowbrook began an offensive drive at its 31-yard line. On the first play of that drive, Dyers took a snap from a shotgun formation and raced 69 yards for a touchdown to boost the Warriors’ lead to 19-9 with 5:16 remaining in the third quarter. Dyers threw an incomplete pass on the conversion attempt.
“Jackson starts at safety [on defense]; he’s one of our backup quarterbacks,” said Hildreth after the win over the Eagles. “He dropped the kickoff to start the second half, and then comes in and pops a touchdown; just an awesome response.”
Willowbrook’s third-quarter surge continued when senior Dylan Borkowski intercepted a Leyden pass at the Warriors’ 45-yard line and made a 33-yard return to the Eagles’ 22-yard line. The turnover marked Borkowski’s third interception of the season. He made an interception in the Warriors’ 20-13 Week 1 win over Glenbard East and snared another interception in the team’s Week 2 loss at Oswego East.
On the next play after Borkowski’s interception at Leyden, Dyers broke an 18-yard run to the Eagles’ 4-yard line. Senior Dionel Rocha completed the three-play scoring drive with a 3-yard touchdown run. Borkowski added the extra-point kick to push the Warriors’ lead to 26-9 with 1:32 left in the third quarter.
“We came out flat, but I’m proud of the way we came back in the second half,” added Hildreth after the winning effort. He noted that the Warriors did not have a typical week of practice leading up to the game, as the excessive heat during the week led the team to practice inside for a couple of days. “We didn’t get a true practice in, but they adapted well, and our practice all week was great. But I was disappointed in the way we came out. We were super flat. It took a turnover and them [the Eagles] getting the lead for us to figure it out and get the energy and the tempo going.”
Willowbrook’s season continues with this Friday’s (Sept. 11) home game against Downers Grove South (2-1 overall, 1-0 in the conference) The Mustangs opened their conference season with a wild 55-42 victory at Addison Trail on Sept. 4.
