WW South hangs tough against Glenbard West
Wheaton Warrenville South expected Saturday's Class 7A quarterfinal against Glenbard West to be its closest football game of the season.
It was, but it wasn't as close as the Hilltoppers hoped.
The Tigers took the lead on the game's third play from scrimmage and never looked back, defeating the Hilltoppers 40-20 in a rematch of last year's 7A championship game, a game WW South won in double overtime.
“Coach told us it was going to be a dogfight coming into this game and to be prepared for it,” Tigers receiver Titus Davis said.
The Tigers (12-0) looked well prepared when defensive back Caleb Bednarz intercepted a third-and-12 pass and returned it 18 yards for a 7-0 WW South lead. Bednarz had 2 interceptions on the day to give him 7 for the season, 2 of which he's returned for touchdowns.
“You just can't give Wheaton South that,” Hilltoppers coach Chad Hetlet said. “You can't give them a 7-point advantage to start the game.”
“That was big,” Davis added. “We were looking to score early and jump on them and get off to a good start.”
A 33-yard touchdown pass to Davis from quarterback Reilly O'Toole made it 14-0 later in the first quarter, but that only started a trend that lasted the entire game: Glenbard West narrowing the margin only to see WW South extend its lead again.
“Answering their scores was really important,” O'Toole said.
A Nick Burrello 6-yard run got the Hilltoppers (10-2) going, but O'Toole answered with a 27-yard TD run.
The Hilltoppers followed that with a 68-yard scoring pass to Mark Hiben from Daver Glawe, but O'Toole's 4-yard TD run 19.1 seconds before halftime gave the Tigers a 27-13 lead at the break.
The Glawe-to-Hiben connection worked again in the third quarter, cutting the Tigers' lead to 27-20.
“We made some mistakes early. I think we bounced back from some of them,” Hetlet said.
“I don't know what their coaches told them, but they came out hard in the second half and made it interesting,” Davis said.
But Tigers running back Matt Rogers scored 2 fourth-quarter rushing touchdowns to seal the victory.
Meanwhile, though the defense gave up more points than it had all season, it still had a good day against a very good offensive team. The Tigers finished with 4 interceptions.
“You've just got to minimize the big play, the threat of Burrello and try to cover (Hiben) as best you can,” Tigers coach Ron Muhitch said. “The kids did a good job of doing that tonight. Give them credit. Defense wins championships, and it takes a (former) defensive coordinator not to forget that.”
O'Toole finished 16-of-22 passing for 244 yards, completing his final 11 passes. He completed passes to six receivers.
“I tried to keep my eyes up when they were bringing pressure and tried to get my playmakers the ball,” O'Toole said.
It was an important game personally for the Illinois-bound senior, who felt he didn't play well in last year's game against the Hilltoppers.
“I was really disappointed in the game I played against them last year and I really wanted to play better this year,” O'Toole said. “I was just a lot more comfortable with their defense, because their defense is one of a kind. I just generally kind of buckled down, watched a lot of film and just getting used to what their defense was bringing.”
WW South will play at Belleville East in next weekend's semifinals. Belleville East defeated Minooka 21-17 Saturday.