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Addison Trail defense stifles Hinsdale South

Addison Trail’s defense flies to the football like few can.

Allow an opposing coach to explain.

“There were a couple times tonight when their middle linebacker was making a play on our pitch back,” Hinsdale South’s Mike Barry said. “When that happens you know you’re going against a pretty speedy defense. You don’t ever account for that linebacker to be on your pitch.”

The 16th-ranked Blazers were in full swarm Friday, holding Barry’s Hornets to 89 yards of total offense for a 21-0 shutout in Darien.

Addison Trail (4-0, 2-0 West Suburban Gold) has allowed a total of 13 points in its four wins.

“Like I said to the boys last week, it isn’t the first time since I’ve been here that the defense has played well enough to keep us in the game,” Blazers coach Paul Parpet said. “That’s what we’ve been known for, is to play good defense. When you have (Mike) Imperiale and (Kevin) Kent in there as our two inside linebackers, they’re pretty good.”

Hinsdale South (2-2, 1-1) crossed the Addison Trail 40-yard line just twice in the game. Both drives were stalled by Blazers sacks, first by Anthony Messina and later by Justin Levonyak.

“I had to make a play to get my offense back on the field,” Messina said.

Messina was a busy man for Addison Trail on the other side of the ball, gaining 173 yards on 30 carries. Messina’s 18-yard touchdown run around right end gave the Blazers a 7-0 lead with 3:33 left in the first quarter.

Hinsdale South muffed a punt midway through the second quarter, setting up Addison Trail at the Hornets 29. The Blazers made them pay six plays later, Vince Beltrano banging in a 2-yard score for a 14-0 halftime lead.

Addison Trail pushed the lead to 21-0 on the first play of the fourth quarter. Trevor Bermingham found Anthony Catanese for a 15-yard touchdown pass.

Catanese, who missed last week’s win over Leyden with a stinger, was cleared to play Friday. He came back with 5 catches for 90 yards and ran for 35 more.

Running mate Messina welcomed Catanese’s return.

“It felt great to have everyone back,” Messina said, “to have two threats on offense.

Parpet wanted no contentment with a 21-point win, and with good reason. Addison Trail won despite committing 13 penalties — 7 of them on offensive holding calls.

“We still have to get better on offense if we’re going to get to where we want to get to,” Parpet said. “The holding penalties, it is what it is.”

Keontae Hall ran for 42 yards on 11 carries for Hinsdale South. Hornets quarterback D.J. Deolitsis, who had 139 yards of total offense and 4 touchdowns in a Week 3 win over Proviso East, ran for just 24 yards Friday and threw for 13 more.

“It was tough trying to get D.J. out of the pocket,” Barry said. “They were getting good pressure inside, we were trying to get out to the edge and they did a real nice job of bottling us up inside and not giving us time to throw the football.”