Dual threat Brodner puts on show
His timely touchdowns, 240 total yards vital to Hilltoppers’ comeback
Hinsdale Central brought a large fan base and a talented football team to Glen Ellyn on Saturday. They even had shirts made for the occasion. “The Showdown” was on the front and the back was the mission statement: “We can, we will, beatWest.”
It seemed as if that just might happen for a majority of the game, but then Glenbard West senior Sam Brodner took over and the No. 2 Hilltoppers used a secondhalf comeback to beat No. 9 Hinsdale Central 35-24.
The Hilltoppers and Red Devils are similar teams. Both pride themselves on strong defense and enjoy pounding the ball on the ground, carry after carry. The similarities showed on the stat sheet. Glenbard West ran for 291 yards and passed for 118. Hinsdale Central ran for 269 and passed for 99.
Brodner made the difference. The Vanderbilt-bound running back’s candidacy for Player of the Year was strong heading into the game. Now he might be the clear front-runner.
Glenbard West (6-0, 4-0) trailed 10-0 when Brodner ripped off his first big play, a 75-yard touchdown run. Late in the second half he showed his skills as a receiver, grabbing a 25-yard pass with one hand just before tumbling out of bounds. It turned out that was more than just a lucky catch.
“We actually practice those, me and a few of my friends,” Brodner said. “Whenever we are hanging out watching football, we will just throw the ball around and catch it one-handed.”
That grab set up a six-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Brian Cochrane to tight end Adam Zybko that cut Hinsdale Central’s advantage to 17-14.
The big, backbreaking play that likely sent most of those “The Showdown” shirts into the trash can was a 52-yard Statue of Liberty play on a third-and-13 with 4:33 to play. That set up an 18-yard touchdown catch by Brodner that gave Glenbard West the lead for good at 28-24.
Brodner knows Glenbard West’s fortunes rest on his back, despite his constant attempts to give all the credit to his offensive line.
“I get worried, but you just got to do what you got to do as a team — and you have to trust your offensive linemen, which I do greatly,” Brodner said. “I always have that in my head, that I have to do something to help the team every play. I’m just getting holes and getting every- thing done that we need to do.”
He rushed 17 times for 175 yards and two touchdowns and caught three passes for 65 yards and a touchdown.
“[Brodner] is a freak,” Hilltoppers coach Chad Hetlet said. “I told everybody in the summer he is a freak. There is a video of him doing a flip and catching the ball in midair. He does crazy things. We’re lucky to have him.”
Senior Christian Bobak was a workhorse for Hinsdale Central (5- 1, 3-1) with 34 carries for 251 yards and two touchdowns.
“We’ve been taking what the defense has been giving us and today they happened to be toned a little bit more toward the pass,” Red Devils coach Dan Hartman said. “We had Christian back there and he did a phenomenal job of running the ball hard.”
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