WW South dominates
From the opening kickoff Wheaton Warrenville South dominated West Chicago.
The Tigers defense didn’t allow a first down until the second quarter, while the offense scored on all but one possession. In the end the two-time defending Class 7A champions were too much for the visiting Wildcats during a 54-0 homecoming victory Friday night.
WW South (3-3, 3-1) quarterback Thaddeus Armstrong threw 2 touchdown passes, both to tight end Brian Welch, which turned out to be the junior’s first two scoring receptions on the varsity.
“We wanted to go with a two tight end set against a 3-5 (defense),” Armstrong said. “Brian ran some great routes and got open.”
The Tigers jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter on touchdown runs by Dan Vitale and Armstrong. Sandwiched in between was a 62-yard punt return into the end zone by Mike Shelton.
On defense the Wildcats were forced into three straight 3-and-outs and didn’t pick up a first down until a 10-yard run by quarterback Matt Green with 8:56 to go in the second quarter.
Armstrong and Welch helped put some distance between the Tigers and their opponent with the aforementioned touchdown receptions. On WW South’s opening possession of the second quarter, Armstrong led his team on a 5-play, 53-yard drive, which ended with Armstrong rolling right and finding Welch wide open down the middle from 18 yards out and a 28-0 lead.
On the Tigers’ next possession, it only took a 3-play drive to put 7 more points on the board. The drive ended with Armstrong hitting a wide-open Welch running up field, who then waltzed into the end zone untouched for his second score of the game.
“We ran a play-action pass and the safeties bit on it,” Welch said of his second touchdown catch. “I was able to get behind the entire defense and there was nothing but space.”
West Chicago’s (0-6, 0-4) best scoring opportunity came in the third quarter when Green led the Wildcats all the way down to the Wheaton Warrenville South 22-yard line, which was set up on a 27-yard run by Green. However, WW South linebacker Brian Domek came in untouched for a 10-yard sack, which eventually stalled the drive.
The game went to a running clock when Tigers running back Patrick Garner took an option pitch from quarterback Ryan Graham and scored on a 30-yard run to put his team up 41-0.
“It’s a nice win,” Armstrong said. “I thought our offensive line came ready to play tonight. It was probably their best game all year.”
Daniel McKee and Brandon Adams finished off the scoring with touchdown runs of 9 and 10 yards, respectively.