Perez keys Maine South repeat in Class 8A
CHAMPAIGN - Injury? What injury?
Maine South senior running back Matt Perez left last week's semifinal victory over Loyola with a deep thigh bruise, spent Monday and Tuesday on crutches and wasn't cleared to play until Thursday, when he proved he could jog lightly.
Yet, the Indiana-bound senior was his dynamic self in leading Maine South to a 41-17 Class 8A title game romp over Marist at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
Perez set the all-time championship game record for rushing yards (316) and tied the record for touchdowns (5) as the Hawks won their second straight undefeated Class 8A title and the fourth state championship in the Park Ridge school's history.
"I just worked with the training staff on getting better all week and it worked," Perez said. "It was a deep thigh bruise and I messed up my ankle pretty bad. I hurt (the ankle) more because they put me in a brace on one leg and I had a crutch for the other leg, which made it worse.
"I was around 85 (percent), but once the adrenaline starts pumping you don't feel anything."
Maine South quarterback Tyler Benz (45 yards rushing, 89 passing) put Maine South on the board first with a 2-yard run that capped a 6-play, 57-yard drive. Marist responded with a 27-yard field goal from Ben Falloon, but the Hawks scored a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter on Perez runs of 11 and 28 yards to take a 20-3 lead at halftime.
Perez broke the game open with 6:50 left in the third quarter when he scored on a 47-yard run to finish off a 6-play, 76-yard march.
Marist (11-3) scored twice in the second half on passes from quarterback Mike Perish to Dan Piko for 34 and 8 yards, respectively, but those touchdowns were sandwiched between Perez scoring jaunts of 26 yards and 76 yards, the latter of which ballooned the Maine South (14-0) advantage to 41-17 with 4:27 left in the game.
"He's fast, he breaks tackles and he got to the open field," Marist coach Pat Dunne said.
Gaudy as Perez's totals were, they didn't match his career-high rushing performance of 341 yards set against Glenbrook South. But he was impressive, nonetheless.
"The magic man was Perez," Hawks coach David Inserra said. "He was hurt all week, he didn't practice and we weren't sure if he was going to play tonight. But look at the night he had.
"Marist is a good team and I have a lot of respect for them. They're awesome, they can strike at any moment, they have a great quarterback and they can run up the middle. It's a lot like playing against ourselves."
There was one key difference between the teams, however. Marist allowed 383 rushing yards and 472 yards total, whereas, the Maine South defense held the RedHawks to 89 yards rushing and 181 yards passing.
"They were a lot bigger than us, absolutely huge," Maine South junior Frank Colletti said. "But like the old saying goes: It's not the size of the dog in the fight; It's the size of the fight in the dog."