WW South 32, Wheaton North 20
All eyes are already looking forward to the Wheaton Warrenville South-Naperville North football game looming in Week 9 to decide the DuPage Valley Conference.
The Tigers just cleared a big hurdle in their backyard.
Mike Piatkowski threw for 160 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Peter Jarrett ran for 109 yards and 2 scores in WW South's 32-20 win over Wheaton North on Friday.
WW South (7-0, 5-0) plays Glenbard East next week before they get the Huskies.
"All year our goal has been to go undefeated and win the conference championship," said Chris Schweighardt, who caught both of Piatkowski's touchdowns. "This was obviously a huge game for us."
Piatkowski and the WW South offense was never better than on an 88-yard drive that matched a Falcons' score to start the second half.
He hit Schweighardt on the run for a key 17-yard completion on third down, and six plays later lofted a perfect 30-yard scoring strike to Schweighardt on a fade route in the corner of the end zone.
"It (the third-down play) was a broken play, supposed to be a curl and he started scrambling," Schweighardt said. "I was running back and forth. Luckily he found me. We knew we had to come back and answer their score."
"How about Michael Piatkowski?" WW South coach Ron Muhitch asked. "He's an absolute playmaker."
That touchdown answered Mike Trumpy's 9-yard score for Wheaton North and gave the Tigers a 25-14 lead with 24 seconds left in the third.
WW South scored on the game's opening drive. Jarrett, in his first start with Francis Adarkwa slowed by an ankle injury, ran in an 11-yard touchdown.
Wheaton North tied it 7-7 on a 30-yard Trumpy touchdown run. The Falcons had a chance to go ahead after Jack DeAno picked off Piatkowski at the WW South 31, but Brian Ward made a diving interception in the end zone for the Tigers.
WW South went ahead 13-7 with 5:19 left in the second quarter, Schweighardt hauling in a 15-yard touchdown on another fade route.
The Tigers took advantage of another Falcons turnover in the closing seconds of the first half, as cornerback Matt Glawe intercepted a pass at the Wheaton North 38.
"He was staring at the receiver the whole time," Glawe said. "I stepped in front of it."
Three plays later, Adarkwa took the handoff on a Statue of Liberty play, stiff-armed one tackler and broke another tackle for a 3-yard score and 19-7 halftime lead.
"We shot ourselves in the foot," Falcons coach Matt Foster said. "Against a team like that you can't do that."
Trumpy ran for 161 yards on 22 carries for Wheaton North (4-3, 2-3).
"I thought Wheaton North was a dangerous team for us," Muhitch said, "It was fun to be in a big game."