Catanese, Addison Trail hand Hinsdale South a loss

Addison Trail junior Anthony Cantanese always wants the ball in his hands.

So when Cantanese lined up as a wide receiver with time ticking down in the first half of Friday's West Suburban Gold game against Hinsdale South, one had to figure that the ball was coming in his direction.

Blazers quarterback Trevor Bermingham dropped back and lofted a perfect pass to Cantanese as he was ran the fly pattern up the sideline. Cantanese beat his defender and raced 46 yards for the score with 29 seconds left in the second quarter to give Addison Trail all the momentum it needed en route to a 35-8 rout of the visiting Hornets in Addison.

"We saw that Cantanese was one-on-one with the corner," Bermingham said. "He was telling me the whole first half that he was going to beat his guy. We relayed it to the coach, and he gave us the option to go for it all."

"Trevor made a nice throw," Cantanese said. "The momentum shift was huge."

Cantanese's first touchdown of the game and the extra point lifted the Blazers (1-2, 1-0) to a commanding 21-0 lead. He also scored on a 12-yard run in the third quarter.

Running back Nick Wisniewski also scored a pair of touchdowns for Addison Trail. One came on a 5-yard run and the other was on a 56-yard pass play from Bermingham in the fourth quarter. Anthony Beltrano also ran in a score as the Blazers racked up 396 yards of total offense, including 249 on the ground.

For Addison Trail coach Paul Parpet Jr., this victory marked his first win since taking over for his father, who retired last season after 29 years at the helm of the program. Parpet said the team game planned to make sure it would play to the talents of its players.

"After the Wheaton (North) game we made the decision to use all of the weapons we've got," Parpet said. "There are six of them that we want to the ball to on a consistent basis."

Parpet used the example of lining up Cantanese, who started at quarterback for nine games last season, all over the field. On some plays he would take the snaps. On others he would line up outside. They want to get him the ball in the open area.

For Hinsdale South (1-2, 0-1), it struggled without a number of key players. Leading rusher Kylen Williams tried to play but a sprained ankle kept his action limited. Starting quarterback Jackson Panice is out with a back injury, and two of the team's starting offensive linemen, Zach Guritz and Dan Collins are out too.

The Hornets got their lone score of the contest late in the fourth quarter when wideout Chris Chacko won a jump ball in the right corner. Two-way player Ryan Johnson also had a good all-around game too with an interception, fumble recovery and a sweet 22-yard reception.

"(The Blazers) executed really well," said Hindale South coach Alex Bitto. "We have had a rash of injuries. We are trying to find parts to put together here. We are a little better team than we played tonight."