Prep football: Eight sacks, four turnovers propel Independence past Herbert Hoover

All-state defensive end Isaiah Conley sacked Herbert Hoover quarterback Peyton Grigsby three-and-a-half times, leading a defense that sacked the sophomore signal caller eight times in total as the Patriots, ranked second in Class AA held off the Class AAA third-ranked Huskies for a 37-34 victory Thursday night in Coal City.

The eight sacks coupled with four Grigsby turnovers - three interceptions, one pick six, and a strip sack that was recovered for another touchdown - allowed the Patriots to rule the night.

Conley's second sack, a strip sack in the first quarter that was recovered by Isaac Redden in the end zone for a touchdown, and Grigsby's first interception, returned 52 yards by Sylas Nelson, were the highlight plays for Indy's defense. But it's clinching efforts came on the final drive of the game when Landon Phalin and Alex Blankenship notched a sack each to cripple a Hoover effort that started at its own 22 with under two minutes to play.

"I really gotta congratulate our seniors," Independence head coach John H. Lilly said. "Having a veteran team allowed us to run a lot of complex stuff tonight. We ran a lot of twists and a lot of things we couldn't do last year. We're playing against a team that can score every time they throw the ball so we had to disrupt a lot of things. We had to move people around and put them in situations and I'm really proud of our seniors."

For Hoover it was a rough start as the Class AAA runners-up from a year ago were breaking in a new quarterback along with several impact receivers.

"Probably some protection things, some decision things, some play call things where we didn't help (Grigsby)," Hoover head coach Joey Fields said. "We didn't stay on schedule so that allows them to tee off on us a little bit. Credit to them because they put us in those situations but disappointing. We're still a good football team though."

While Hoover found the end zone first, Independence found it often throughout the first half.

After Grigsby connected with Lance Williams for an 81-yard touchdown pass on a third-and-12 for a 7-3 lead, the Patriots caught fire. Independence Quarterback Brock Green engineered a seven-play, 74-yard drive that ended with a 30-yard over-the-shoulder touchdown grab by freshman K.J. Viars on second-and-15.

Conversions on long-distance downs were a theme of the night for Indy which extended its first scoring drive with a 19-yard completion on third-and-8 and scored a touchdown on a third-and-16 44-yard touchdown pass to Cole Laxton on the first play of the second quarter.

"We worked third-and-long a lot this summer," Lilly said. "Right there is all that work you do in 7-on-7," Lilly said. "When you've got a quarterback that's got an arm that can throw like that it allows you to do a lot of things and the ball bounced our way."

The two defensive scores, coupled with Green's touchdown passes staked the hosts to a 30-7 advantage at the 9:54 mark of the second quarter before the Huskies started hunting big plays and found them.

A 42-yard diving catch by Fisher in the end zone started the rally with the senior running back finding the end zone again with 32 seconds left in the half. The momentum compounded for Hoover which forced a fumble on the ensuing kick off, scooped by Dalton Myers and returned for the second score in an 11 second span.

The third quarter differed with neither team finding the end zone but Fisher struck again early in the fourth, capping an eight-play 40-yard drive with an elusive 12-yard touchdown run with the ensuing two-point conversion attempt stuffed. But the offense and defense for the Patriots synergized to close the door. Following a three-and-out by the Indy offense, Conley closed Hoover's next drive with his final sack of the night on third-and-9, giving the ball back to his offense.

"This offseason we hit the weight room hard," Conley said. "Just speed training - shootout to Mr. Stevens for getting us right for there track team. Just tremendous effort from the guys."

Set up at its own 46, Independence drove, converting on a pivotal fourth-and-2 when Green found Kaden Bradbury for 25 yards. Three plays later on fourth-and-goal from the Hoover 1, the sophomore quarterback called his own number on a sneak for the decisive score. From there the defense closed the game with Bradbury nabbing an interception on Hoover's penultimate drive before the pass rush sealed the deal.

"We just remembered last year," Conley said. "We came out and we knew what it was going to be from the start. We knew it was going to be a fight. Just battle 'til the last whistle."

Fields took the loss as a wakeup call for his team.

"We're living off the past success of last year," Fields said. "Last year is over. That season ended in December and we started working for it a couple weeks later. That said, we've got some new guys and had some mental miscues but credit to (Indy), they whooped us on the line of scrimmage. I thought we would struggle with that, but not that bad. Our guys just weren't ready but we practiced like that all week. We kind of get what we deserved. Maybe this will wake us up.

"Facebook has crowned us that we're going to be back in the championship for some reason and I'm the only guy telling them they're not. I look forward to practice because it's going to tell us that kind of team we are and who's still going to be here."

Green completed 14 of 25 passes for Independence for 232 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Viars led the receiving corps with five catches for 106 yards and score in his first game.

Phalin finished with one-and-a-half sacks and an interception.

Grigsby completed 22 of 33 passes for 334 yards and two touchdowns with three interceptions and a lost fumble. Kno'Sean Hampton, Lance Williams and Fisher had 88, 81 and 79 yards, respectively. Hampton and Shannon Mitchell had an interception each.