Goro, Maine South out-pass Warren

Ryan Maguire had just had himself a Matt Mose-like game, albeit in a loss. So who was he talking to afterward?

Matt Mose, whom Maguire considers a big-brother figure to him.

"He was just telling me, 'You got to run the routes a little sharper,' " Maguire said of Mose, the former prolific wide receiver for Warren who's now on the football team at Illinois State.

As Maguire completed the sentence, a Maine South assistant coach interjected.

"Nice job," he said to Maguire. "I'm really impressed. Stay with it."

Maguire and his teammates certainly stayed with high-scoring Maine South on Friday night, but quarterback Charlie Goro proved too much in the end, leading the Hawks to a 35-21 win in Gurnee.

The Vanderbilt-bound Goro passed for 3 touchdowns and ran for another. Joey Orlando caught a pair of Goro's TD strikes, while halfback Matt Perez rushed for 128 yards and a score.

"It was a great game - great game to watch, fun game to coach in," said Warren coach Dave Mohapp, whose team was coming off an Opening Night win over New Trier. "That's a tough team to contain offensively with everything they've got going on, spreading it and the timing that they had. But I was excited about how our players competed."

A year ago, Maine South thumped Warren 40-7 in Park Ridge. But behind quarterback Zach Shaw and Maguire, the Blue Devils were competitive all night. Shaw completed 16 of 31 passes for 187 yards (3 interceptions), and actually threw for more yards than Goro (15-of-25 passing, 164 yards). Maguire had 12 receptions for 135 yards.

"Fun game, exciting," Maguire said. "After being beaten badly last year, we had a sour taste in our mouth. We definitely improved offensively."

Maguire's 20-yard touchdown catch from Shaw with 4:47 left in the fourth pulled Warren within 28-21. But Goro calmly directed an eight-play, 75-yard drive, capping it with a 35-yard TD pass to Brendan Cronin.

That was typical, as each time Warren (1-1) scored, Maine South (2-0) answered back with a TD.

"(Warren's) drives were like six or seven minutes," Goro said. "We were just staying warm on the sidelines and keeping our composure. We weren't worried about what the defense did. As long as we handle our business, we'll be all right, and that's what we did."