New Trier Football

New Trier lives up to slogan, beats GBN

Trevians score 20 unanswered points in second half of 33-14 win

New Trier quarterback Conner DeLoach considers the Trevians’ defense to come from the school of the “Hard Knox.”

The Trevians were“Ford Tough” in Week 1. And then they wanted go out and “Get Em” in Week 2 against St. Pats. 

New Trier quarterback Connor DeLoach eyes Josh Perlmutter on a pass play during the Trevians' 33-14 win over Glenbrook North Friday in Northfield. (Photo by Nic Summers/www.SportsStarPhotos.com)

All three have been slogans worn on DeLoach’s eye black, but Friday’s slogan –“Hard Knox” proved to be much more than just a saying as the Trevians upset previously unbeaten Glenbrook North 33-14 Friday night in Northfield.

“I just wanted to give the defense something to work off of and it was a slogan on the sideline today, hit up and hit them fast and hard – ‘Hard Knox,’” DeLoach said.

After GBN (2-1) put up 14 points in the first half, New Trier (2-1) blanked the Spartans and scored 20 unanswered points in the second half.

“I just told our defensive kids, ‘Hey, we gave up a couple big plays,’” New Trier coach Dan Starkey said. “That’s uncharacteristic of us. But I felt if we had the opportunity, we could assert ourselves defensively as the better defense out there. They stepped up to that challenge and really shut down a good GBN offense.”

With GBN ahead 14-13 at halftime, New Trier got on the board quickly in its first offensive series of the second half a nine-play drive capped by receiver Charlie Tilson 32-yard touchdown on an end-around  play that gave the Trevians the lead for good at 20-14.

“We pretty much just stuck to what we were doing (in the second half),” DeLoach said. “We saw that they were bringing up their safety and we saw where their strong side was and we just ran it weak.”

DeLoach didn’t light up the scoreboard with eye-popping numbers, but was an efficient 6-for-11 passing for 64 yards and two touchdowns. DeLoach connected on his first four passes of the game, including touchdowns to both senior receiver Scott Schoder (17 yards) and Tilson (8 yards). Schoder finished with three catches for 33 yards, while Tilson caught three passes for 32 yards.

“I wasn’t that nervous,” DeLoach said after his first start of the season.” We had a solid O-line and we just ran behind them, stuck with it and they opened up things up wide so I was able to find an open receiver.”

Running backs Jack Nykaza and Josh Perlmutter provided the Trevians with a good 1-2 punch up the middle while combining for 231 yards.  Nykaza had 139 yards on 19 carries, and Perlmutter had 11 rushes for 92 yards, including a 7-yard TD run that extended the lead to 30-14 to start the fourth quarter. Schoder added a 37-yard field goal.

Glenbrook North's Grant Rushing looks for an opening in New Trier's defense during Friday's game. (Photo by Nic Summers/www.SportsStarPhotos.com)

Although Nykaza and Perlmutter filled up the stat sheet, DeLoach and Starkey had nothing but praise for the offensive line of Chris Gluckman, Scott Karras, Casey Karnes, Scott Southern and Campbell Lipe, fullback Kevin Samuelson and tight end Henry Falter.

“Our O-line has been working hard all year and it’s paying off,” DeLoach said. “We owe those holes to our offensive line.”

“Our offensive line coaches did a great job and our offensive line works extremely hard in practice,” Starkey added. “We really jumped on their back tonight. Our backs really benefitted from their hard work. You can’t just give enough credit to our offensive linemen, our fullback and our tight end.”

After GBN lost a fumble on its first possession of the game, the Spartans’ defense came back to force a three-and-out on New Trier. On its next possession, GBN marched down the field on a seven-minute drive, culminating in a 15-yard touchdown run by Grant Rushing (57 yards, 12 carries) for a 7-0 lead.

New Trier got to within one point after DeLoach’s TD pass to Schoder. GBN answered quickly with a score of its own as quarterback Zack Hilgendorf went deep to fullback Nick Freund for a 59-yard TD pass. Hilgendorf went 6 for 9 for 117 yards but was sacked four times for a loss of 20 yards.

The Spartans couldn’t find a spark on either side of the ball and lost three fumbles, two on special teams deep in their own territory in the second half.

“We stopped playing at halftime - that was the biggest difference,” GBN coach Bob Pieper said. “I told them, ‘The first five minutes of the second half is going to be the biggest part of the game,’ and we didn’t play very well.

“We had some turnovers that killed us. We couldn’t get our defense off the field. They score on us, they kick off to us, we fumble and they score again. You’ve got to do a better job on offense and special teams.”
Through the first two games, the Spartans’ defense had only allowed one touchdown. But after reaching the end zone four times and allowing just two scores to one of the best teams in the CSL North, Starkey believes the Trevians played with a bit of a chip on its shoulder after a tough 28-14 loss to St. Patrick last week.

“I told our players this week, it was a good character-builder to see which New Trier team showed up this week,” Starkey said. “Again we give credit to St. Pat’s last week, but how you react when you get knocked down is important. I think our kids stepped it up tonight and came from behind against a pretty good football team.”