The second half became the Marquan Foster Show for Fremd against New Trier on Friday at Robert Naughton Field in Winnetka.

Foster scored three second-half touchdowns for the Vikings in their 35-16 win over the Trevians in their final nonconference game of the season. Foster scored two receiving touchdowns and returned a kick for a 75-yard touchdown in the win.

New Trier (2-2) had avoided kicking to Foster all game, but the one time they did, he picked up a squib kick from his own 25-yard line, made a couple of guys miss open field tackles and took the ball the distance for Fremd (4-0).

“They were trying not to kick to (Marquan), but he’s a smart football player,” Fremd coach Lou Sponsel said. “And the other players, they do a great job. … They knew to let the ball get to him and he would go get it. He’s a special player.”

He also added touchdown receptions of 42 and 15 yards in the third and fourth quarters, respectively. The Trevians had cut the lead to 14-10 midway through the third quarter at that point.

Foster’s touchdown was a massive response to give the Vikings a double-digit lead that it would never relinquish.

“Marquan’s just one of a kind, for sure,” Fremd quarterback Johnny O’Brien said. “Just him vertically and deep, I don’t think anyone can run with him. He’s super special.”

Overall, Foster had three receptions for 87 yards and two touchdowns. Ben Riddle added four receptions for 71 yards and a touchdown.

O’Brien — a Northwestern commit — completed 11-of-18 passes for 197 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

His fourth-quarter 15-yard touchdown in particular got his teammates excited on the sideline. O’Brien broke out of a potential sack, evaded another defender and fired a lowball to Foster in the end zone for the score.

“The play happens when you have a quarterback like him,” Fremd senior linebacker Troy Pepe said. “It’s awesome to be playing with (O’Brien). You always know you have that chance to make a play out of nothing. It was just a great spark. It got our sideline going. I think we really took over after that.”

Running back Jayden Faulkner had 17 rushes for 134 yards and a touchdown to go along with two catches for 23 yards.

The Vikings had averaged 41.3 points per game in the first three weeks of the season. However, they were limited to one touchdown on just three drives in the first half, which led the game to be tied 7-7 at intermission.

“It was just a great team effort,” O’Brien said. “It was a scrappy win, but you have to get a couple of those every year.”

Senior defensive end Anthony D’Ambrosio was out due to an injury, but the Vikings were able to limit New Trier to just seven points in the first half and nine points in the second, despite New Trier quarterback Jackie Ryder constantly evading tacklers and making scrambles on third-and-long.

“We bumped our (defensive) ends out a little more,” Pepe said of the defense’s adjustment. “I think we made our adjustment and let our DBs do their job.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250919/prep-football/fosters-big-plays-spark-fremd-in-win-over-new-trier/