O'Toole, WW South answer challenge at Naperville C.
Reilly O'Toole and Wheaton Warrenville South haven't been tested often this season.
Faced with one Friday, the Tigers didn't flinch.
O'Toole threw for 203 yards and 4 touchdowns, ran for another score and No. 1 WW South scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to beat No. 16 Naperville Central 38-13 in Naperville.
After Naperville Central (2-2, 1-1 DuPage Valley Conference) pulled within 17-13 on a Hayden Daniels 1-yard quarterback sneak early in the third quarter, WW South had the answer.
The Tigers went 91 yards in 13 plays, chewing up 8:52 of clock with O'Toole finding 6-foot-7 Jason Schuman in the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown pass. O'Toole was 4-for-4 passing on the drive, but the key play was a 12-yard Matt Rogers run on fourth-and-1 from the Redhawks 18.
"We came together as an offense and said 'we need to put it in here,'" O'Toole said, "and we did that inch by inch. We want to show that we can run the ball."
It was the first time since Week 1 that a WW South opponent came within two scores in the second half and the first time this season an opponent scored more than 7 points off the Tigers defense.
On the first play after the Schuman touchdown Tigers linebacker Mike Monterrubio recovered a Naperville Central fumble, setting up an O'Toole 10-yard touchdown run.
Caleb Bednarz intercepted a Hayden Daniels pass on the Redhawks' next possession and O'Toole hooked up with Titus Davis for a 15-yard touchdown pass and 38-13 score.
"Our defense needs to be challenged," WW South coach Ron Muhitch said, looking ahead to games with Naperville North and Wheaton North the next two weeks, and later Glenbard North. "It's a great win for our program; it gets tougher from this point on. We needed a test and we finally got one."
WW South's big-play offense struck quickly, as O'Toole hit the speedy Davis on the game's first play of scrimmage for a 76-yard bomb.
"I had a read and Titus beat his guy," Davis said. "There's very few guys that can cover him. He's such a dynamic player. He got behind their man and made a play on the ball."
WW South, which scored on every drive, made it 14-0 in the closing seconds of the first quarter on a 7-yard pass from O'Toole to Travis Kern. Brian Welker's 25-yard field goal made it 17-0, but Naperville Central mounted an 11-play scoring drive just before halftime.
Matt Randolph, who ran for 124 yards on 25 carries, bulled in a score from 4 yards out to make it 17-7.
"Our kids battled back," Naperville Central coach Mike Stine said. "We hung in there, scored right before half, got the long kickoff return to start the half and scored to make it 17-13 and then we made a couple mistakes. Against a good football team you can't do that."