Minooka QB has coming out party vs. Romeoville

Minooka quarterback Mitchell Brozovich calls out a play during his team's win against visiting Romeoville Friday night.
(Michael DiNovo/For The Herald News)

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

MINOOKA -- He wasn't expected to be the starting quarterback this season, let alone the homecoming hero.

Mitch Brozovich put an exclamation point on his miraculous return from offseason surgery in Minooka's 56-22 high school football victory over Romeoville on Friday night.

He ran for one touchdown and passed for three more as the Indians (5-2, 4-1) remained hot on the heels of Oswego in the Southwest Prairie Conference race and inched closer toward clinching a playoff berth.

Brozovich, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound junior, combined for 199 yards rushing and passing on a night when Minooka's big offensive line to control up front. He completed 8-of-11 passes for 131 yards. Included were scoring strikes of 9 and 10 yards to Cody Carter and 6 yards to Nick Liberatore.

And, when Brozovich wasn't beating Romeoville with his arm, he was beating the Spartans with his legs. He tacked on 53 yards rushing on six carries, looking more like a seasoned veteran running Minooka's option attack than a young man just returning to full strength.

He suffered a shoulder injury in baseball tryouts last spring and did not participate in any of the Indians' offseason football workouts.

"We doubted whether he'd ever come back," Minooka coach Bert Kooi said. "There wasn't a doctor in the world that told us he'd have a chance to play for us. He competed for that spot. We went back-and-forth early on with 'Krak' to see if Corey Krakowski wasn't going to be the guy. Then, he doesn't have a summer to throw the ball. So, we struggle a little bit early on throwing the ball.

"I think people were saying, 'We've got to stop the run. We've got to pack the box against Minooka.' And I'll tell you what, I think Mitch Brozovich showed tonight and really could have showed last week too (in a 6-0 loss to Plainfield North) if you don't defend the pass against us we'll hurt you that way also."

Brozovich's passing helped the Indians jump to a 12-0 lead in a game that see-sawed in the first quarter. The Spartans (5-2, 3-2) rallied to take a 14-12 lead on a pair of touchdown passes from Matt Gillis to Erick Pierce. One covered 54 yards, the other 52. Pierce went on to a career-night receiving with seven catches for 211 yards and three touchdowns.

Gillis completed 10-of-30 for 261 yards. He twice was intercepted, once by Minooka's Dakota Sheetz.

The Indians turned the turnover into points right before halftime. Brozovich's 1-yard scoring run capped a seven-play, 63-yard drive, all of the yardage coming on the ground. The big play on the drive was a 29-yard run by Kyle Banks on a reverse-action play. He picked up a block on the corner from Brozovich.

Up to a couple of weeks ago, he was known most for scoring the pin that clinched Minooka's dual-team wrestling victory over Providence and sent the Indians on their way to a second-place finish in the 3A state tournament last year. Or for his work in a 21-14 football victory over rival Plainfield South three weeks ago.

"Between the pin against Providence and the win against South, yeah, those two were special," Brozovich said. "But this would probably be the next biggest one. It just feels good that we came out and here and, with the conditions of the field, they weren't the greatest, and we performed as well as we did."

The Indians' offensive line of Robert Budde, Matthew Bee, Michael Melone, Noah Tyree, Kenny Smith and tight end Brandon Babic paved the way for Minooka to rush for 355 yards and control the clock. Two backs went over the 100-yard mark. Blake Montella finished with a game-high 126 yards on 12 carries. He scored on a 31-yard run. Banks totaled 103 yards on 14 carries. He scored on a 7-yard run.

Brandon Collofello tacked on 68 yards on 12 carries. He scored on a 20-yard run. Luke Pullara's 6-yard scoring with 7:27 remaining capped a 44-0 scoring spurt for the Indians and set the clock in motion for the rest of the fourth quarter with the Indians leading 56-14.

Matt Powers' second-half interception helped Minooka slow down Romeoville's big-play offense. Brozovich's fireworks on the field came as a prelude to the homecoming fireworks that followed the game.

"No one thought, when they heard I had shoulder surgery, that I was going to come back this year," he said. "But doctor Fuentes and the guys at Newsome (physical therapy) did it. They believed in me. They've repaired shoulders before. And they said I should be back in 3-4 months. But the school doctor told our coach I wasn't going to be able to throw at all.

"That's when he got all panicky and started going after other quarterbacks. He had to do that, I guess. He talked to two doctors and two coaches. All four of them said I wouldn't be able to come back. But I was determined. I love the game of football. I wanted to get back and help the team come out on top."

"We knew they were a strong running team," Romeoville coach Jeff Kuna said. "We practiced all week and prepared to try and shut down their running game. They beat us up on the line of scrimmage. But, you're right, we hadn't seen Brozovich throw the ball all that well over the course of the season. He a couple of real nice balls that caught our defensive backs unaware. They were sucked up to play the run.

"And, when you have a great running game, you can be more effective as a passing quarterback."