Giants score twice in 4 minutes to topple rival Warriors, move to 2-0

For much of the 2024 season, Highland Park Giants football struggled to find its footing in the run game.

The contrast between then and now was evident in the box score from Highland Park’s 28-21 rivalry victory against visiting Deerfield Friday night on Wolters Field.

Four different Giants rushers found the end zone, and the Giants’ game-winning drive featured multiple game-changing runs (15 yards from Gustav Crane, 20 yards from Jayden Corchado, 3-yard touchdown from John Bowman).

“We have a solid mix of guys, probably a handful who can run the ball and run the ball hard,” Highland Park head coach Anthony Kopp said. “We have some physical backs, including (QB Gustav) Crane. And it helps having (wide receiver Lucas Gordon) on the outside where people have to cover him up; that’s going to leave the box open for the run game.”

Bowman’s 3-yard scoring plunge put Highland Park in front 28-21 with just 34 seconds to play and gave the sophomore back a game-winner for his first high school touchdown.

The result marked the first time Kopp has defeated intradistrict Deerfield in his four years as the Giants head coach and the first time the Giants accomplished the feat since 2017.

It is also the first time Highland Park has started 2-0 since 2016, when it finished the regular season 7-2.

“It was awesome,” Kopp said of the atmosphere following the victory. “Obviously that’s a huge game for us — getting that win for the first time in a long time but to also do it with 30 seconds left roughly. It was just cool. Our student section was awesome. It was just a fun game.”

The rivals traded blows early. The Giants and Warriors scored a touchdown apiece in the first and second quarters to go into halftime knotted at 14-14.

Giants junior Zion Wood got his team on the board with a 3-yard first-quarter TD run, while Crane (team-high 64 rush yards) scored on a 6-yard scamper in the second.

After a scoreless third quarter, Deerfield nabbed an early fourth-quarter lead with a 2-yard touchdown run.

The Giants finally found an equalizer with 3 minutes 36 seconds to play when Corchado (39 rush yards) plunged to pay dirt from a yard away.

About three minutes later, the Giants marched down the field. Corchado’s 20-yard run set his team up at the 3-yard line, and Bowman (31 yards rushing) punched in the decisive score.

“How cool is that, your first varsity touchdown is a game-winner against your rival,” Kopp said. “We got the ball back with a good spot on the field with about 2 minutes left. Being tied, you’re trying to march down and score but it’s not terribly urgent. We have a solid kicker (Maxwell Dubin), so we knew we could have kicked.

“We popped that big run to get down to the (3), and we went with tempo and handed it off to the big guy (Bowman).”

Crane added 109 passing yards — 69 of them going to Gordon, who caught five balls — for the Giants.

On the other side of the ball, Jacob Youra had four tackles for loss, including a strip sack to turn over the Warriors in the fourth quarter. Sam Stoltze was in on 11 tackles (three for loss), and Sam Goldfeder chipped in three tackles for loss.

Facing a final-quarter deficit, the Giants didn’t fold. Kopp said his team showed a readiness he was proud to see.

“It just felt different. The energy on the sideline was strong. The players were positive,” he said. “I think they knew we were going to get a shot at it and when that time came, we took advantage of it.”

That energy has been showing a lot for the Giants in the young season.

“There’s some more confidence, some more attitude in a good way,” Kopp said. “It’s a good energy going. I sort of get the feeling our team is confident and ready to face challenges.”

The challenges return to Wolters Field on Friday, Sept. 12, when the Giants host Schaumburg (1-1). They then hit the road in Week 4 to take on Conant (0-2), and conference play begins with a road test at Vernon Hills (1-1) on Friday, Sept. 26.

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