Giants’ successful season pushed aside by run-heavy Tigers

Playoff football is a tough time to have your worst start of the season.

After that, Highland Park had a tough time for the long remainder of an IHSA Class 6A opener against visiting Wheaton-Warrenville South.

“We definitely wanted to get off to a good start and that’s about as worse of a start as you can get,” Giants coach Anthony Kopp said.

A botched snap and then punt on the Giants first possession gave the Tigers a 7-0 lead and set the tone for a mistake-riddled night for Highland Park in a 42-7 loss on Saturday, Nov. 1, in Highland Park.

In addition to the punt mishap, the Giants had five turnovers on the afternoon, three of them coming from inside the Tigers’ 30-yard line.

South did most of its damage on the ground in the first half. Standout back Owen Yorke took 19 carries for 159 yards and two scores in the opening two quarters, leading his team to a 28-0 advantage.

“They are who we thought they’d be with speed, physicality, strength,” Kopp said. “We had a lot of unforced errors … that we couldn’t quite bounce back from.”

Out of the break, the Giants got a stop, but their promising ensuing drive ended with another interception.

The Tigers then covered 40 yards in the air before Yorke scored his third touchdown on the day to essentially put the game away at 35-0 in the third quarter.

South’s rushing attack and its nearly 300 yards was difficult to get a hold of, senior Lucas Gordon said.

“They were good at holding their blocks downfield, and Yorke would use those to cut back and read the hole,” said Gordon, a safety as well as standout wide receiver. “He had very good vision to detect open spots in our defense.”

Down several scores, Highland Park kept at it.

Giants defensive end ran 60-plus yards to make a touchdown-saving chase-down tackle. Jayden Corchado (88 total yards) ran through multiple Tigers tacklers on a 15-yard run, and in the waning seconds, Giants quarterback Gustav Crane found Gordon for a 38-yard touchdown.

“I think it’s heart and pride,” Kopp said. “These guys were playing to leave everything that they have on the field and they showed that.”

Crane finished with 246 yards passing. The touchdown was Gordon’s 15th score on the season and it gave him 10 catches and 166 yards on the day.

Gordon, a Washington University commit, finishes his Highland Park tenure as the program’s all-time leading receiver with more than 100 catches, more than 2,000 yards and 25 receiving touchdowns. Also a safety, he was the team’s leading tackler as a junior and was likely up there again this year.

“Great player, heart of this team, gives everything to the program,” Kopp said of Gordon. “You can’t say enough about him. … He’s really what you want in a Giants football player.”

Other impact seniors were Youra, who also forced a fumble on Saturday; offensive lineman Max Leon and Constantine Soutsos; and linebackers Gabe Leon, Macro Volpentesta and Sam Goldfeder.

Plenty of underclassmen helped the Giants to a 7-2 mark and a perfect record (5-0) in the Central Suburban League North Division. They included: juniors Corchado, Crane and Max Stevens (WR) and sophomore John Boman (RB/LB).

All the ages and talent came together in the right way this year for the Giants, Max Leon said.

“It’s brotherhood, family for sure,” he said. “Even with the coaches, we are all just one family, since the beginning of June.”

Despite the loss, Kopp hopes it can all carry over.

“We want to be playing in these playoff games,” he said. “We did a great job of getting here. We did a great job of getting ready for it and then things didn’t go our way. Hopefully, we can learn from this, we are still fairly young, and take the next step.”

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