It was a historic night for Fremd on Friday in a Mid-Suburban West football showdown between the Vikings, ranked No. 9 in Class 8A and No 2 Barrington.
Fremd southpaw QB Johnny O’Brien threw for a school-record 395 yards, breaking the record of current Cub Mike Tauchman (377 in 2008 vs. Palatine).
O’Brien’s big night led to 56-35 victory at Hale Hildebrandt Stadium in Palatine, where Brennan Saxe caught 11 passes for 260 yards, just shy of a school record.
“We said we wanted to come out and put the pedal down,” Vikings coach Lou Sponsel said. “We’ve got one of the best quarterbacks around and Brennan is a stud. This is exciting for the school, our families and the kids.
“The offensive line was phenomenal.”
Getting protection from linemen Mikey Varon, Aiden White, Owen Jakubczak, Sid Yalamanchili and Chuluunbat Bayarbat, the Vikings struck first when O’Brien lofted a beautiful 30-yard TD pass to Brendan Saxe on their first offensive play (9:07) of the game set up by Davyn Kuhl’s 50-yard interception return.
“That was a heck of a game from us,” said Saxe, who matched his career high of 4 TDs in a game. “I loved every minute of it. “
Calvin Jackson’s 11-yard TD run tied the game at 7-7 before Fremd answered with O’Brien’s 2-yard TD pass to Saxe for a 14-7 lead.
Barrington (5-1, 1-1) tied the game again when Jackson’s 6-yard TD run with 11:33 left in the first half.
Fremd (6-0, 2-0) gained the lead again at 21-14 with an 80-yard drive that included a 40-yard pass to Saxe. O’Brien ran it in from the 1-yard line four plays later with 9:33 left.
The Broncos answered with a 99-yard drive, capped by 12-yard pass from Peipert to Ian Tepas to make it 21-21 with 3:15 left.
Fremd went 80 yards in less two minutes to start the second half, capping the drive with O’Brien’s 32-yard TD pass to Marquan Brewster for 28-21 lead.
Barrington responded with an 81-yard scoring drive ending with Peipert’s 25-yard TD strike to Matt Kania, tying the game at 28.
O’Brien’s 60-yard pass to Saxe set up Jayden Faulkner’s 2-yard TD run putting Fremd in front 35-28 with 7:19 left in the third.
The lead grew to 42-28 when Brewster caught O’Brien’s 5-yard pass in the back of the end zone with 3:07 left in the third quarter.
Fremd scored first in the final quarter when O’Brien lofted a 30-yard TD pass to Saxe for a 49-28 cushion with 9:24 remaining.
Luke Tepas’ 41-yard pass to Austin Coles got Barrington to within 49-35 with 8:04 left on the game.
Then came Saxe’s 70-yard interception return for a 56-35 lead with 4:57 left, which ended the scoring.
O’Brien threw 5 TD passes and was 21 of 35.
Fremd’s Johnny O’Brien (8) looks for an open teammate Friday, Oct. 4, 2024 in Palatine.
Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com
“This team is really hungry,” O’Brien said. “I am excited to see where we can go from here.”
Due an injury, Peipert did not play much in the second half.
“Kudos to Luke, the way he stepped up n a difficult situation,“ said Barrington coach Joey Sanchez.
“I’m proud of the way our guys fought,“ Sanchez said. ”But tip your cap to Fremd. I can’t say enough about how Lou had their kids prepared. We were not able to execute the plays we had been leading up to this. Credit that Fremd.“