Downers Grove South thwarts Willowbrook
All season long Downers Grove South has been striving for consistency. It found it at the opportune time — its biggest game of the season to date.
Unfortunately for Willowbrook, the Warriors took the brunt of the Mustangs’ good fortune.
Friday night’s game went a long way in deciding the West Suburban Gold title with both the Mustangs and the host Warriors undefeated in league play going into it.
But Downers Grove South dominated from the start, scoring 40 unanswered points en route to a 47-14 victory.
The win pushed the Mustangs to 4-3 and 4-0 in the WSC Gold. Willowbrook fell to 5-2, 3-1.
If the Warriors want a piece of the conference title they are going to need help. They travel to Leyden next week and host Addison Trail the following week to close the regular season.
“They physically handled us and we did not respond,” said Willowbrook coach Nick Hildreth.
He was stressing to his team in its postgame meeting to start thinking about Leyden.
“We have a 12-hour rule (about games). We’ll come back in the morning, watch film and see where we need to improve.”
The Mustangs broke a scoreless game midway through the first quarter as Javon Turner connected with quarterback Jordan Skach on a 65-yard TD pass on the third play of a drive. It was Turner’s first of 4 touchdown catches on the night.
Willowbrook bounced right back with a 57-yard, 2:18 drive that was capped by quarterback Brian Johnson’s 11-yard pass to Hayden Adams that tied the score at 7.
Then the Mustangs took over, leading 35-7 at halftime. Johnson was presssured most of the game, but especially in the first half and managed to throw for 111 yards durng the first two quarters and 192 for the game. The Willowbrook ground game struggled with just 27 yards during the first half while Downers Grove South racked up more than 300 yards of offense during that same time span.
Hildreth said the Mustangs taking the lead and keeping a strong grip on it was crucial, especially with what was at stake in the game.
“It was huge for them. We couldn’t get anything moving. They were able to keep the ball on the ground and out of our hands,” he said.
The Warriors finally got back into the end zone late in the third quarter when Johnson found Joe Catanese all alone 44 yards downfield for the score.
“It was the first time that we have played a complete game this season,” said Downers Grove South coach Mark Molinari. “Sometimes the offense has played well and the defense hasn’t. Other times it was the defense playing well and the offense wasn’t.”