Maine West quickly respond to adversity
Maine West found itself in a quick 7-0 hole after Maine East scored on its first play from scrimmage.
But a Warriors' offense that had only scored 14 points in 3 consecutive losses suddenly found itself.
Maine West (2-4, 1-1) exploded for 28 unanswered points en route to a 34-22 Central Suburban North victory over host Maine East (0-6, 0-2) in Park Ridge.
"We had adversity on the first play," said Maine West coach Chris Hare. "That has been one of our Achilles heels, we don't come back from adversity. But we did tonight, that was a big building block."
Maine East junior Jeremy Umansky rushed for a dazzling 273 yards on 24 carries, including a 60 yard scoring run on the first play.
But sophomore Calvin Williams answered with a 6-yard scoring run to tie the score. Williams rushed for 234 yards on 23 carries.
Senior quarterback Frank Hess then found Tom Solis for a 21-yard score and Anthony Sullivan recovered a blocked punt in the end zone to give Maine West a 21-7 lead with 4:23 left in the first quarter.
"The last couple games we haven't scored a lot," said Hess, who rushed for 103 yards on 14 carries. "We knew Maine East would put points on the board, we just had to answer."
Hess added an 8-yard scoring run with 10:05 remaining in the second quarter to give the Warriors a comfortable 28-7 advantage.
Maine West rushed for 358 yards behind the blocking of Cody Kustra, Eddie Campbell, Christian Nunez, Jimmy Voy, and Matt Watson, which set the tone.
"The offensive line was doing good," said Williams, "They were blocking everybody, they came out ready to play."
The defense also rose to the occasion despite allowing Maine East to gain 445 total yards; they stopped two drives deep in their own territory in the first half.
Maine East narrowed the deficit to 28-14 at halftime on a returned interception, but Hess scored his second touchdown of the evening on a 2-yard run on the second play of the fourth quarter for a 34-14 advantage.
Urmansky added an 80 yard scoring run for Maine East midway through the fourth quarter.
"Obviously a win is what we strive to do," added Hare.
And the Warriors got it on Friday.