RB’s ‘complete game’ overwhelms Elmwood Park

R. BROOKFIELD   21 7 14 0 42
ELMWOOD PARK   0 0   0 0  0

Needing a win to stay in serious contention for the Metro Suburban Conference title, the Riverside Brookfield football team (3-4, 3-1) responded with arguably their best performance during a 42-0 win on Friday over Elmwood Park.

Offensively, sophomore quarterback Billy VandeMerkt tossed five touchdown passes, including three scoring strikes of seven, 13 and 12 yards to wideout Lucas Hackel to ignite the Bulldogs’ offensive aerial attack. VandeMerkt also threw a pair of early touchdown passes (28 yards to Will Lusthoff) and (19 yards to Shane Kilcoyne) to stake the Bulldogs to a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

Deon Walker added a score via special teams when he returned the opening kickoff of the second half 90 yards to push the RB lead to 35-0.

The RB defense proved equally spectacular by shutting out the Tigers’ offense for a second time this season (RB defeated Elmwood Park 21-0 earlier in the year). Junior defensive end/linebacker standout Matt Regnier, along with fellow defensive linemen Jake Czajka, Billy Cabernoch, Nick Miller and David Borrego applied consistent pressure during the game.

“I think this was a huge win to bring our spirits up,” Regnier said. “The D-line played great and we were able to get a good pass rush. Hopefully, we can stay fired up and come out strong in our next two [conference] games.”

Riverside Brookfield visits Ridgewood on Friday for a 7 p.m. game. In an earlier meeting this season, the Bulldogs pulled out a 21-19 Homecoming win fueled by the inspired play of Regnier (8 solo tackles, 2 sacks), VandeMerkt (23-of-44 passing, 301 yards passing), Lusthoff (8 catches, 132 yards) and Sean McGonagil (interception, fumble recovery).