Riverside-Brookfield shuts out Wheaton Academy

The theme for this year's Wheaton Academy's football team is "Fight On", and the Warriors certainly showed their fighting spirit in Friday's Metro Suburban Blue opener at Riverside-Brookfield.

Despite falling behind early Wheaton Academy never quit and kept the game closer than the final score would indicate as the host Bulldogs notched a 32-0 victory on homecoming night in Brookfield.

Both the Warriors and R-B now have 4-1 overall records.

"I am proud of their effort and fight," said Wheaton Academy coach Brad Thornton. "No one threw in the towel. How we respond to this will dictate how the rest of the season goes."

The Bulldogs set the tone early. After the Warriors went four-and-out on their first possession, R-B quarterback Hunter Hughes connected with tight end Michael Wilson on a 35-yard pass play for a touchdown. On Wheaton Academy's first snap after the kickoff, the snap sailed over quarterback Ben Thorson's head and R-B defensive lineman Sammy Habayeb recovered the call at the Warriors 1-yard line. One play later Jamari Wise punched it in the end zone. After the extra point kick it was 14-0 Bulldogs just 2:53 into the game.

"We talked about getting off to a fast start," said R-B coach Brendan Curtin. "This shows what we are capable of. Our effort was there."

The Bulldogs also capitalized off another turnover to score later in the game.

For Wheaton Academy, it was not able to take advantage of its opportunities marching down the field because of numerous dropped passes. Despite that, the Warriors "Fight On" spirit was epitomized by their signalcaller Thorson, who is only a sophomore. Coming off a strong performance in last week's 26-14 win over Elmwood Park, Thorson was not afraid to stay in the pocket and scramble for his life to make completions on the run.

Noah Jones, Michael Alfano and Cristian Carstens all had catches of 17 yards or longer. The longest completion was 22 yards to Jones.

"As a QB, I try to keep an even character and stay calm despite adversity," Thorson said. "It is hard going down 14-0, but I think we fought back in the second half and responded well. No one gave up. Riverside-Brookfield is a good team and we didn't execute when we needed to execute."

Added Thornton: "(Thorson) is a tough kid. Every single game he has played he has gotten better and better. It came to a head last week - he had a great game. Against a tough opponent tonight, he stood his ground in the pocket and took some shots. He kept leading and kept being vocal - that's exactly what we want to see from a quarterback, especially a young one. We are excited that we have two (more) years with him."

In addition to Thorson dishing the ball to multiple receivers, running back Kent Harmon churned out the yards with his hard-nosed running style. He finished with 57 yards on 14 carriers.

Defensively, the Warriors disrupted things with Mitch Brunner, Dimitrie Skakavac, Nori Kasai and Michael Callentine collecting sacks in the first half.