Warren hangs on vs. Trevs
It was a nifty move by Warren senior tight end Ryan Short.
He saw the New Trier defenders trying to force him inside.
So he cut inside but noticed the defenders' hips turn, which opened up an outside lane and from there the rest was history.
"Once I made my move to the sideline, I knew I had it. There was so little room I was just glad to come down with the ball," said Short, who wound up hauling in 3 passes for 68 yards.
Actually, when the final horn sounded his team was not only glad but rather delirious because Short's 34-tard pass from senior quarterback Ian Schilling with 6:36 left in the half held up as host Warren stunned highly-regarded New Trier 7-3 in its home opener.
"We just missed some of the little things last week (in a 34-20 loss to Barrington)," continued Short. "But tonight was amazing, especially the defense."
Speaking of that defense, Warren harassed Trevian quarterback Reed Bianucci. Junior defensive back Hazard Bahr recorded the lone sack for the Devils, but the entire defense hurried Bianucci all night long, including a couple of huge fourth-down stops in the fourth.
Trailing 7-3 with 3:07 left in the game, New Trier had a fourth-and-10 from Warren's 48, but Bianucci was forced into an incomplete pass and Warren took over on downs.
From there, it was elementary and with New Trier out of timeouts Warren simply ran out the clock.
"This game always gets me, kind of sets a tone for the rest of the season," said Blue Devils coach Bryan McNulty, whose team evened its mark at 1-1 heading into the conference opener at home against Libertyville next Friday. "We've lost three times to them since I've been here, so it's incredible to beat a great program like that. All of the guys really stepped up when we needed them the most."
Junior running back Tavion McCarthy was the workhorse on the evening for Warren, rumbling for 88 tough yards on 22 carries. Schilling wound up completing 15 of 28 passes for 173 yards and the scoring strike to Short.
Senior wideout and Notre Dame commit Micah Jones got it going early and finished with 6 catches for 52 yards.
Back on defense, junior safety Caden Fox and senior defensive lineman Collin Patrick had fumble recoveries.
"We really have work the guys hard during the summer and in practice and its paying dividends," added McNulty. "This was a gut check tonight and the guys really stepped up."
New Trier senior linebacker Brian Kaiser provided a scary moment in the fourth when he took a hit on defense and was on the ground for 15 minutes or so before being carted off for precautionary reasons. It looked like a possible neck injury.