St. Francis scouts out a rout

Sometimes the scout team players get scouted.

As St. Francis began its 42-0 rout of DeKalb on Friday night in Wheaton, the Spartans reserves began warming up, and players like seniors Jack Spangler and Harold Beron made the most of their chance in the nonconference victory.

"We've got some depth in the backfield and it's starting to show," St. Francis coach Greg Purnell said. "Our quarterbacks, both of them, (Collin) O'Donnell and (Jack) Spangler are doing a nice job."

Mark Schmitt got the Spartans (2-0) off to a good start, returning the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown. On the next possession the Spartans drove 83 yards in 51/2 minutes, ending with a Colin Marshall 4-yard TD run. He followed that a couple of minutes later with a 5-yard TD run to start the second quarter.

Tony Vargyas made it 28-0 with a 45-yard scoring run, and after a Jimmy Chaon interception, O'Donnell got his turn and immediately fired a 15-yard TD pass to Vargyas. Spangler finished the Spartans' next drive with a 3-yard TD run to make the score 42-0 and give the Spartans a running clock when the second half started.

"We go hard every day," Spangler said. "After seeing those seniors and how they went out last year (winning the Class 5A championship), we just have one dream and that's to get down to Champaign. We're going at it every day to get there."

Beron got in on the action late in the first half also, snaring an interception at defensive back.

"I just wanted to get out there, do my part and contribute to the team as much as possible," he said. "It felt really great getting that interception. I got beat deep and I recovered. Coach said it was all right that I got beat. As long as I recovered."

In the second half he got in at running back, carrying 4 times for 31 yards. A long Beron punt return was called back because of a penalty.

"He just makes things happen," Purnell said of Beron. "I really think that he was very instrumental a year ago as a scout team player for us when we were playing some good teams into the playoffs. He mimicked the best players they had and really helped prepare us. ... He's going to really help us down the road here."