Wheaton North defeats West Chicago

Wheaton North was missing starting tailback Patrick Sharp due to a right ankle injury, but that was no problem as the Falcons cruised to a 28-6 victory against West Chicago.

Junior Mikey Sammer filled in for the banged-up Sharp and finished with 109 yards on 9 carries and 3 touchdowns. But don’t expect a rift between the two running backs after this performance.

“We are, like, best friends so there are no ill feelings,” Sammer said with a smile. “I root for him, he roots for me. But tonight the offensive line just made huge holes. The holes were so big there would be no problem driving a truck through them.”

The game started off fast and furious for the Falcons (3-1, 2-0 DuPage Valley Conference) as they got into the end zone three times in their first eight offensive plays. On the third play of the game, Sammer got free on a sweep for a 35-yard touchdown run. Two offensive plays after that, it was Sammer getting free again, this time from 48 yards out. On the eighth offensive play, quarterback John Peltz hooked up with wideout Johnny Daniels from 23 yards out, giving Wheaton North a 21-0 to end the first quarter.

“Offensively, we did a good job putting points on the board,” Wheaton North coach Joe Wardynski said. “Mikey made some huge plays for us early on. We had a lot of quick drives where we were able to score rather fast. I will have a better idea on how well our offense played after getting a chance to look at the game film. But I am very pleased.”

One bright spot for West Chicago (0-4, 0-2) was the way it was able to control the ball in the second half. The Wildcats received the second-half kickoff and proceeded to keep the ball for more than 8½ minutes, converting two fourth-down situations and scoring on a quarterback keeper by Matt Green from 12 yards out.

“It was nice to see the kids execute in the second half, especially in the start of the second half,” West Chicago coach Paul Reinke said. “We wanted to take the game one play at a time, and tonight we did that. Obviously, the result is not where we want it, but we are taking strides. Wheaton North is a great team and we did some nice things in the second half.”