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Glenbrook South races to 56-0 win over Maine East
Glenbrook South's Cody Carroll breaks Maine East tackles for a big gain during their game at Maine East September 14, 2012. | Curtis Lehmkuhl~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: September 15, 2012 5:33PM
PARK RIDGE — In a game defined by big plays from the visitor’s offensive stars, Glenbrook South running back Brett Laurie outshone everyone on the field. Laurie had runs of 47 and 56 yards on counter plays — his only two carries — as part of 188 team rushing yards in the first half, and capped his phenomenal night with a 49-yard punt return as the Titans beat Maine East 56-0.
“Brett Laurie makes some big plays,” Glenbrook South head coach Mike Noll said. “We count on him to do that.”
Fullback Matt Hoshaw added 32 yards on four carries and wide receiver Ose Ilenikhena electrified with a pair of receptions, one for a touchdown, and a 42-yard touchdown run on a reverse play at the end of the half. Ilenikhena’s fellow star wideout, junior Cody Carroll, added a nifty catch-and-run for a 17-yard gain and a 12-yard touchdown.
All that offense came after last week’s 21-14 loss to Glenbrook North, which included 11 Glenbrook South offensive penalties.
Noll was happy his team bounced back after such a tough loss last week, and said the team used practice time leading up to the Maine East game to “focus a lot on us.”
“Last week was really disappointing and we wanted to bounce back and play better football, eliminate mistakes,” he said. “I think the kids did that really well. We were focused. We executed. Can’t complain.”
Blue Demons coach Gabe Corey’s team mustered less than 25 yards of offense for the entire first half and only a handful of first downs. This marks the second big loss in a row for Maine East after starting the season 2-0 for the first time since 2004. The Blue Demons fell 40-7 to Evanston on Sept. 7.
“Unfortunately, not enough players who stepped on that field believed they could win,” Corey said. “Not that they thought they were going to lose, but they didn’t think they could win. And in this game, you gotta go on the field and you can’t hesitate, and we did the same thing last week.”
Corey said that while his team was plagued by poor fundamentals, blown assignments and lack of confidence, having three injured starters — star backfield members Christian Lopez and Javed Lukovic and safety Mike Kuzebski — put his team even further out of a winning mindset. He said that all three are hopeful to play next week.
“The good side of it is that we’re going to get healthy, we’re going to get those three guys back, and that will be a big boost,” Corey said. “And we’re going to start our conference play when we go into Niles North.
“That’s the thing, some of these kids who go into these games doubting I think they’ll go into that game saying ‘Hey we can play with this team.’ And I think next week we’ll have a good bounce-back victory.”
Glenbrook South, now 2-2, also starts conference play next week as the Titans play host to Evanston.
Pick up your local Pioneer Press newspaper on Thursday to read more about the Glenbrook South and Maine East football teams.
