Week one of the high school football season has Benet Academy making a trip down I-80 to Country Club Hills to take on Hillcrest. The Redwings hope for a strong start after three straight 4-5 campaigns, while the Hawks look to build on their second-round playoff appearance in 2023. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
The Hawks have the ball as quarterback Gary Bradley throws a short pass to Maurice Garrett, and he gets away from defenders. Garrett takes the rock 40 yards and goes out of bounds inside the Benet 30-yard line.
Now they have a 4th down situation and here comes a running Declan Walsh who takes down Bradley for a loss and a turnover on downs for the Benet defense.
Ryan Kubacki unleashes his arm for Benet
In the second quarter here’s Ryan Kubacki back under center for Benet and he throws to Luke Wildes who hauls it in with one hand and scores a 48-yard touchdown. That score makes it 7-0 Wings not even ten seconds into quarter number two.
Hillcrest has it again and Bradley uses his feet to pick up a first and set the Hawks up in prime position. He fumbles the football at the end, but Robert Ivy falls on it to keep the possession alive.
Hillcrest steals the momentum
Then Bradley hands it off to Erimus Wright who runs to the outside and finds paydirt and this game is tied at seven.
On the next possession, Bradley flips one up to Johnson and he’ll do the rest. He stiff-arms his defender and scampers down the sideline for a 69-yard touchdown. Hawks take their first lead of the game at 13-7.
What does Kubacki do for a response? He throws it up to Luke Doyle, who catches it he puts on the moves, and is off to the races. He eventually gets brought down but the Redwings are deep in enemy territory.
Kubacki then gives the pigskin to Martin Radgowski who gets by his man, dives for the pilon, and is into the end zone. The Redwings takes the lead right back 14-13.
Special Teams turning point
On the ensuing kickoff, the Redwings are re-kicking after the Hawks accepted a penalty for it going out of bounds. Jamari Thomas catches it, and he looks for a good return but he gets hit by Andrew DeLuca and the ball comes out, and Benet gets it right back with the recovery by Jack Getz.
Benet capitalizes with Kubacki finding Radgowski behind his defender and it’s another Redwing touchdown. Benet goes into halftime up 21-13 after a big swing late in the half.
Opening possession in the second half is copy and paste for the Benet passing game. Kubacki plus Luke Doyle equals six points for the Redwings and a 28-13 advantage.
It’s the defense’s turn for some fun. Bradley drops back and his pass gets deflected and picked off by Ben Clevinger.
In the fourth quarter, Benet puts the game away with another touchdown, this time from Joe Salvino. The Redwings start the season 1-0 following a 35-13 win over Hillcrest.
For more prep sports highlights, visit the Naperville Sports Weekly page!
