RB                0 7 0 14 21
Elmwood Park 0 0 0   0  0

Through the years, the Riverside Brookfield football team has had more than its share of offensive shootouts, especially considering its high-scoring history under coach Otto Zeman. And while the Metro Suburban Conference certainly has nothing to do with the Ol’ Wild West, Zeman still called on the Bulldogs’ own “Billy the Kid” to snap their season-opening three-game skid.

Precocious sophomore quarterback Billy VandeMerkt proved up to the task, leading RB to a 21-0 victory against host Elmwood Park on Friday night. VandeMerkt, a good athlete who also plays basketball at RB, completed 24-of-44 attempts for 315 passing yards and tossed a pair of touchdown passes as the Bulldogs pulled away from the scrappy Tigers in the fourth quarter.

Lucas Hackel, the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback for the first three games, contributed offensively as well in the backfield with a 7-yard touchdown run.

“We thought we might be better off putting Lucas [at running back/wide receiver] since he is such a big, athletic kid and letting Billy play quarterback,” said Zeman about VandeMerkt’s first varsity start. “It gives our offense a bit more balance. We needed a win badly and the offense made some plays when we needed them.”

After a scoreless opening quarter, VandeMerkt connected with Will Lustoff (4 catches, 83 yards, 2 TDs) on a 21-yard touchdown pass to stake the Bulldogs to a 7-0 lead at the 9:01 mark of the second quarter. The tandem hooked up again on a 43-yard pass play that also produced a touchdown with 11 minutes remaining in the game.

Wide receivers Anthony Kilcoyne (7 catches, 62 yards) and Deon Walker (4 catches, 68 yards) also performed well in the Bulldogs’ spread offense.

Elmwood Park (2-2, 0-1 Metro Suburban Conference) moved the football twice inside the RB 5-yard line, but a fumble and missed field goal kept the Tigers off the scoreboard. Elmwood Park committed four turnovers on the night.

While the Bulldogs (1-3, 1-0 Metro Suburban Conference) are typically associated with high-powered offense, linebackers Dylan Krug and Don Johnson led a collective defensive effort that garnered a conference win and impressive shutout.

“We won a game so now we are on a winning streak,” Zeman said. “We have some added confidence and we will try to build off this win. One of our goals was to win our conference and we still have a good chance at accomplishing that goal.”

The Bulldogs will celebrate Homecoming on Friday night at 7 p.m. against visiting Ridgewood. The Rebels (2-2, 1-0), who defeated RB twice last season, boast outstanding players in 6-foot-1 senior quarterback Pat Czerwiec and 6-4, 285-pound offensive tackle Jon Welninski.