It was a tale of two halves on a crisp fall evening in Barrington as Oak Park and River Forest took on the Broncos in the first round of the Class 8A football playoffs. Barrington (8-2) took early control with a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Teddy Schell and a 5-yard touchdown scamper by running back Andre Anderson, and it seemed like the rout was on.
In an intense playoff atmosphere, a 21-point deficit might have seemed insurmountable for a lesser team, but not for the gritty Huskies (6-4). On three straight possessions they would not be denied. Standout running back Levell Coppage (28 carries, 123 yards, 2 TDs) scored on bursts of three and seven yards, but it turned out to be not enough as OPRF fell 41-21.
“We started out slow and couldn’t do anything on offense,” OPRF coach Jim Nudera said. “Defensively, we had trouble stopping Anderson.”
In the waning seconds of the first half, quarterback Justin Brown (8-of-14 passing, 25 yards, TD) connected on an 11-yard touchdown strike to Erik Mikelsons. The Huskies took all the momentum into the locker room, riding a surge that had them tying the score at 21 as the half ended.
“It’s a credit to our kids. They know how to fight. They’ve been doing it all season. We punched in 21 with a flurry. It was incredible. And then we took the ball to the 4 [-yard line] on the opening kick only to have a flag bring us back. From there we had trouble,” Nudera said.
In the second half, Anderson had his way with the Huskies’ defense, scoring three of his four touchdowns and finishing the contest with a game high 227 yards rushing.
The fight and determination of the Huskies was on display the entire season. Their 6-4 record bested last season’s 5-5 mark, and is the program’s first winning record since 1998. Perhaps the main reason for the success was OPRF’s powerful running attack, led by Coppage. On the season, the Huskies out rushed their opponents 2,241 to 1,675.
The powerful offensive line of David Pickard, senior Patrick Woulfe, senior Jacob Meyer, senior Cory Elich, and senior Max Brooks did an outstanding job opening up holes for Coppage all season long.
Nudera also commented on having strong efforts from senior quarterback Justin Brown, along with senior tailback Jack Scotty and senior wide receiver Xavier Holliday.
“Brown gave us a good effort on offense and Coppage was a warrior and a fighter,” Nudera added.
Brown finished with close to 500 yards passing and had only four interceptions on the year. Scotty put together a fine year, finishing second on the team with seven touchdowns.
But Coppage was the spark to the Huskies’ ground attack, rushing for 1,565 yards on the season with a 6.6 yards per rush average. He finished his impressive junior year with 19 touchdowns.
On the defensive side of the ball, Max Ford led the way with 91 tackles on the season.