Wheaton North's Swider is double trouble

Justin Swider must be a popular kid among Wheaton North's coaches at practice.

"We share him," said Falcons coach Joe Wardynski.

Wheaton North's jack-of-all-trades senior ran for 75 yards on 14 carries with 2 touchdowns on Friday in a 31-6 win at West Chicago. He played safety for a first-team defense that held West Chicago scoreless.

Last season Swider took over at quarterback when Taylor Graham went down with a season-ending injury in Game 5. He was penciled in as a wide receiver in the preseason, but with starting halfback Ivan Tamba slowed by an injury Swider lined up in the backfield against Lake Zurich last week.

And, Wardynski points out, Swider also holds on PATs.

"I just do whatever the team needs," Swider said. "Wherever the coaches need somebody, I'm willing to play there."

"The kid can do just about anything for us," Wardynski said. "We don't like to play kids two ways, but right now we have two kids doing stuff on both sides for us."

Swider's 6-yard touchdown run on Wheaton North's second drive gave the Falcons (2-1, 1-0 DuPage Valley Conference) a 7-0 lead. Their next two possessions stalled with two missed field goals, but after a botched West Chicago punt snap in the half's final minute Falcons kicker Steve Jones booted a 41-yard field goal as time expired to make it 10-0.

Wheaton North's offense kicked it into gear in the second half, scoring touchdowns on all three drives. Graham, who completed 10 of 19 passes for 114 yards, found 6-foot-6 tight end Hunter Thorson among a crowd of defenders for a 20-yard scoring strike to make it 17-0. Swider took in another 6-yard touchdown run off tackle, and Mekael Wesley capped the Falcons' scoring with an impressive 80-yard dash to make it 31-0.

Luke Theobald and John Murphy each had 2 sacks for a Falcons defense that didn't allow West Chicago past the Wheaton North 40 until midway through the fourth quarter. It was a stark improvement over last week's 35-9 loss at Lake Zurich in a must-win with the DVC grind ahead.

"You get into the DVC, there's no easy ones," Wardynski said. "We're happy to get a win tonight. The kids had a better week of practice. We knew we had a bunch of mistakes to clean up from last week, and for the most part we did."

Brad Wilson ran for 76 yards on 12 carries, including a 3-yard touchdown run on the game's final play, for West Chicago (0-3, 0-1).

"Our kids played their butts off. They executed and we had a great week of practice," West Chicago coach Paul Reinke said. "We just have to take another step this week."