Conant’s two-game win streak would be put to the test Friday night as it hosted a Fremd unit commanded by Northwestern-bound quarterback Johnny O’Brien that had outscored their opponents 159-31 in capturing their first four games.

Despite its best foot forward, the visitors from Palatine’s south side were just too much for the home team. Fremd left the east side of Hoffman Estates with a 42-7 triumph in the Mid-Suburban West opener for both teams at Feutz Field that moves the Vikings to playoff eligibility at 5-0 for the season.

“Our kids have been waiting for this,” Fremd coach Lou Sponsel said.

“Our defense went out and executed. We challenged them. Last week, we struggled getting off the field on third and fourth downs. On offense we saw it early they were keying on our slot receivers and our kids were smart to add a couple of things and adjust. Our job is to score touchdowns and we have the guys to do it.”

The Vikings built that first-half advantage on just 21 plays from scrimmage over the game’s first 24 minutes of play.

O’Brien (12 of 16 passing for 173 yards) used his feet, working his way through the Cougars’ defense on a 71-yard scoring run on their third play from scrimmage.

Next, Fremd took advantage of a Jason Hardy fumble recovery at the Conant 42. That set up a quick jet sweep toss by the Fremd signal-caller to Marquan Brewster three plays later from the home team’s 5-yard line for a 14-0 lead with 4:20 left in the opening quarter.

The Vikings’ opening series of the second quarter saw them once again take advantage of a short field. They found paydirt six plays later on Jayden Faulkner’s 7-yard jaunt that made it 21-0 with 9:43 remaining until the break.

Senior running back Jay Box completed the first half scoring for Fremd with a pair of touchdowns over the final 4:31 of the half, scoring on catches from 3 and 6 yards out. His second one came with just 18 ticks left until halftime, which left Fremd ahead 35-0.

O’Brien’s fourth TD toss, a 46-yarder to Ben Riddle just 17 seconds into the second half, made it 42-0. It also allowed him to reach the 6,500 career passing yardage total in his three-year varsity career while commencing the running clock for the remainder of the night.

Meanwhile, the Fremd defense of George Kalkounas, Michael Murray, Amann Parikh, Tom O’Brien, Anthony D’Ambrosio, Troy Pepe, Liam Kalantzus, Michael Perez and Niko Ahlman, along with Brewster and Hardy, held Conant only 24 yards of total offense in the first half.

Nathan Kutella scored on a 1-yard touchdown run in the closing seconds of the third for the Cougars (2-3, 0-1).

Brewster praised his defensive mates for working together which makes them a success.

“It starts with the D-line really setting the physicality,“ Brewster said. ”They bring it which allows the linebackers coming in and the safeties to come on and fill in the holes so it’s a team thing. This defense is really tough.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250926/prep-football/fremd-snaps-conants-2-game-streak-improves-to-5-0/