Bednarz, WW South make sure there's no letdown

For Wheaton Warrenville South, nearly everything was different about Friday's home game.

Gone were the ESPNU cameras and lights, gone was the hoopla, gone was the defending state champion opponent.

About the only similarity was the result: a WW South rout, this time 49-0 against DuPage Valley Conference foe Glenbard East.

"It was just DVC, conference play," Tigers defensive back Caleb Bednarz said. "We knew we had to come in playing our best football because we have a long stretch of great teams. (Without) ESPN, there wasn't as much hype this week, but we still had to get motivated. We had to come out and practice well and play well."

Bednarz and Co. made sure there was no letdown, with the exception of a few penalties that brought back a couple of touchdowns. Still, Bednarz managed to score twice, returning a first-quarter interception 44 yards for a touchdown to make the score 14-0.

"The quarterback, he was scrambling," Bednarz said of his first TD. "I think our 'D' line was getting after him. He tossed one just to hope for something lucky. I was backpedaling and I came up on it, I intercepted it, had a couple of great blocks by the defensive guys and took it to the end zone."

In the third quarter Bednarz returned a punt 73 yards to the end zone, giving the top-ranked Tigers (3-0, 1-0) a 35-0 lead.

"It was good to finally get that last one. The other two got penalties. But tremendous blocks by the defensive players," Bednarz said.

"All the penalties take away the excitement of the game, and we had so many big plays by Caleb," WW South coach Ron Muhitch said. "And as you can see, he's a weapon for us. I think the world of that kid, in terms of a kid that's talented for a 140-pounder and makes huge, smart plays all the time."

Tigers quarterback Reilly O'Toole completed 6 of 9 passes for 186 yards, including touchdown passes of 30 and 41 yards to Titus Davis. O'Toole also ran for a TD against the Rams (2-1, 0-1).

The schedule gets tougher for the Tigers the next few weeks against conference foes Naperville Central, Naperville North and Wheaton North.

"We've got the endurance test coming up," Muhitch said.