Senior John Bielobradek and his Riverside Brookfield High School football teammates enjoyed their greatest victory last season at home against Glenbard South. They somehow managed to surpass even that ecstasy in Friday’s rematch in Glen Ellyn.
After Bielobradek recovered his own onside kick, senior Jayden Karas scored on a 32-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Braeden Novak with 1:32 left. That completed the Bulldogs’ exhilarating and nearly unbelievable 21-17 Upstate Eight Conference East Division comeback victory after falling behind 17-7 with 6:29 left.
“This game was special – special for me, special for the coaches, special for the fans,” Bielobradek said. “I’ve never seen so many fans come to an away game, 40 minutes away, and support us all four quarters. That was a blast.”
“One of the best wins I’ve been a part of as a coach, player, fan. It took all phases,” RBHS coach Sam Styler said.
The victory not only continued an undefeated season for the Bulldogs (6-0, 3-0 in UEC East). With six wins, they already have clinched a state playoff berth after a one-year absence, with Elmwood Park (0-6, 0-4), West Chicago (4-2, 2-1) and co-leader Glenbard East (5-1, 3-0) remaining for the regular season.
When the Bulldogs beat Glenbard South (4-2, 3-1) last year, 26-21 in Week 6, they improved their record to 3-3 but lost to West Chicago and Glenbard East and missed the playoffs at 4-5.
“As much as last year’s win against Glenbard South was our Super Bowl, we didn’t make the playoffs. We won the game but lost the war,” Bielobradek said. “Right now we’re 6-0, we just beat the best team we’ve played and we’re headed very good into the playoffs. This means so much more this year, especially as a senior.”
Senior Xavier Mrozik-DeJesus scored on a 40-yard TD catch from Novak just 42.6 seconds before halftime to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead.
The Raiders opened the second half with a 74-yard, game-tying TD drive. They followed an RBHS three-and-out with another TD to pull ahead 14-7 and added a 32-yard field goal after an interception at the RBHS 31 on Novak’s attempted bomb to Mrozik-DeJesus from the 2.
On the Bulldogs’ ensuing possession, the comeback started with the same duo: Mrozik-DeJesus catching a 30-yard TD pass from Novak to cut the gap to 17-14 with 9:57 left.
“An awesome team effort, the way both sides of the football stepped up to get the win,” Styler said. “[It shows] how close this group is and how much they’re buying into what we’re doing. You saw a lot of guys on the sidelines pick each other up, guys on the field pick each other up. It was a total team effort.”
Novak was 11 for 23 passing for 246 yards. Mrozik-DeJesus (3 catches, 102 yards), Karas (3 catches, 74 yards) and Nico Caputo (4 catches, 59 yards) combined for eight double-digit completions and five for at least 30 yards.
Karas’ TD play was the culmination of the many long pass attempts.
“We were trying to hit those deep balls a lot because the (defensive backs) were off a little bit. We both saw 1-on-1 coverage and I knew I was getting the ball,” Karas said. “It felt absolutely amazing. That [onside kick] was absolutely electric. It lit our offense up and then we went down and scored for our final play.”
Bielobradek said the onside kick play is designed to put the ball far enough but also high enough so that a player on the receiving team gets hit by the Bulldogs before he can secure possession.
And as planned, Bielobradek fell on the loose ball.
“That’s exactly how we wrote it up, exactly how it was executed. It was such an amazing, amazing play,” he said.
“One thing about this team is we will never give up. Coach trusted me to kick an onside kick. They would get good field position [if they recovered], but he trusted me, trusted our players.”
Xavier-Mrozik also felt victorious after having a breakout game against the Raiders in 2024. In that game, he had nine catches for 198 yards with two TD passes from junior Giancarlo Garcia, who also played quarterback Friday.
“It’s so much different going into this game undefeated. Now we just had to prove we had changed from last year. The scoreboard said it all,” Mrozik-DeJesus said. “Last year, I had my best game against this team. I knew they were going to look out for me. Being able to get the win and stay undefeated, against this really good football team, it means the world to me.”
Defensive leaders included Bryan Rimpila (8 tackles, 3 solos) and Luke Ferguson (4 tackles). With the game scoreless in the second quarter, Ferguson returned an interception from the end zone 55 yards and also defended a fourth-down sidelines end zone pass that was caught out of bounds.
After the Bulldogs pulled ahead, the Raiders got the ball at the 20 and reached their 44. They turned the ball over on downs with 32.7 seconds left after an incomplete pass pressured by senior Damian Nieves.
“I think the game ended kind of similar [last year]. Our defense is rallying to the ball and it’s just working out perfectly,” senior safety Warren Mason said. “You just never know how these games are going to go. It’s high competition and comes down to who can make a play. It comes down to the big plays and tonight it did.”
