The last two weeks of Sequoit football, two non-conference games brought difficult, back and forth and close scores.

“We were 0-2. You have to worry about the mindset of kids. We do have a good team,” said head coach Brian Glashagel.

The varsity Sequoits took on the North Chicago Warhawks in the North Suburban Prairie Conference opener Sept. 12. The Warhawks came in to the game 2-0 with their defense holding teams scoreless thus far this season—until last night. Sophomore running back Griffin Hill scored after an 80-yard pass from quarterback senior Zach Andre on the Warhawks in the first ten minutes of the game.

“It was a very good tempo play,” said Hill. “Once you score once it gets the whole offensive line and defensive line into it.”

It looked like it was the Sequoits game from then on, with a fumble recovery by senior Malik Johnson right after, leading to another touchdown by Cameron Corey. But, the Warhawks did not give up the game easily, and three quarters were left in the game.

“The Warhawks are notorious for making big plays. They’re no a grind it out team that takes a lot of snaps, have so many fast athletes. That was one of my concerns, more defensively,” said Glashagel.

Warhawks scored with four minutes left in the first quarter, bringing the score to 13-7.

The first half ended with a score of 20-13, Warhawks.

Andre scored at the beginning of the second half bringing the score to 19-20. But, the Warhawks were able to push right back and run another touchdown bringing the score 27-19.

The sequoits weren’t ready to give them the game, though. After a failed offensive drive Andre punted the ball back to the Warhawks giving them the ball onto their one yard line. The Sequoits defense kept on pushing until they received a safety and got the ball right back. Andre was able to pass it to junior running back Alan Taylor to score with six minutes left in the game bringing the score to 28-27. And it stayed there. The Sequois secured their first victory of the season.

Next Friday is the Pigskin Classic against rivals Lakes Community High School. The Sequoits hope to cut down on penalties—the Sequoits managed to earn 10 penalties alone in last night’s game, fumbles and avoid making anymore mental errors.

“The players see what we see. If we fix just a few things we are a tough 6A team, we are a tough division team. We gotta do that with Lakes because they are last years division champ. We can’t afford 10 penalties or turnovers against them,” said Glashagel.