They say good players tend to find themselves in the right position to make big plays. Homewood-Flossmoor football coach Troy McAllister says Ryan Koprowski might be his team’s best football player, and that axiom proved true Friday night.
The sophomore linebacker personally made three turnovers – two fumble recoveries and an interception – in the Vikings 44-30 win over visiting Bolingbrook Friday.
“All this week I was thinking ‘I’m going to get a pick the first game. I’m going to get a pick the first game,’” Koprowski said. “I think I brought it into my head and made it play out on the field.”
That pick came in the second quarter, on a pass tipped by defensive back William Bundy. Koprowski also fell on a ball on the punt team when Raiders returner Caleb Wallace muffed it in the first quarter and recovered a fumble early in the second half.
“He’s a kid that’s always in the right place at the right time. He’s a really intelligent, smart football player and he’s really strong, for only a sophomore,” McAllister said. “We’re a young club. We’ve got four sophomores and a freshman starting so we’re going to have some moments where they do great things and maybe other times where they do not so great things.”
Even with Koprowski’s heroics, the game remained close throughout. Bolingbrook quarterback Tyson Ward scored on a two-yard run, then found Wallace for a conversion pass that gave the Raiders a 30-29 lead with 7:14 left.
The Vikings responded with a 96-yard drive that took just under three minutes. Kourtney Smith capped it with a 56-yard touchdown run.
“We talk about adversity all the time. In the game of football, you’re going to deal with a lot of adversity,” McAllister said. “When Bolingbrook took the lead, we just responded and it was great to see. You could see the belief in that long drive.”
Then a taxed and tired Vikings defense that was on the wrong side of a lopsided time of possession disparity made the play when it mattered.
Sophomore David Hill sacked and stripped Ward with just over four minutes on the clock. Senior Khamryn Beaver fell on the football near the Raiders 20-yard line.
H-F quarterback Rahsaan Coleman found tight end Martez Harding II for an insurance touchdown, Coleman’s third of night. The same pair hooked up for the conversion pass to cap the night’s scoring.
“We’ve worked together since March. We’ve built that relationship, as a team,” Koprowski said. “We’re able to trust each other to do what’s right for our team.”
It was the annual Alec Anderson Cup game, named for the former athletic director at both schools who died in 2013 while running on a treadmill at H-F. Friday’s win gives the Vikings five consecutive wins in the rivalry.
The traveling trophy will stay in Flossmoor.
“Having a rivalry game off the bat is an interesting feel for the first game. Lots of excitement and you have to just deal with the ebbs and flows but getting a win makes a huge difference (for the season),” McAllister said.
