Improving Warren stays hot, routs Mundelein

After week two of the high school football season, many observers had declared that Warren was dead and buried.

The Blue Devils were 0-2 and their much-heralded defense, which allowed just 85 points during the 9-game regular season a year ago, had been torched for 68 points in just two games.

Warren's defense has vastly recovered the last four weeks. And that improvement was on display Friday when the Blue Devils rose to beat Mundelein 54-7 in Gurnee.

"This year we were playing a bunch of new kids," said Warren coach Brian McNulty, whose team has allowed 48 points during its winning streak.

"We didn't have a senior in our secondary. Those kids have settled down and have been able to get more seasoned."

With the win, coupled with Stevenson's 24-13 win over Lake Forest, Warren (4-2, 4-0) finds itself alone atop the North Suburban Conference. The Blue Devils will capture the conference title outright with wins over Waukegan, Lake Forest and Zion Benton.

"We are a young football team," McNulty said. "We are really, really young. Our first two games you lost and people start to question it and rightfully so. But we showed some resiliency and kept their heads up."

Warren built a 35-7 lead at the half and never looked back.

Sophomore running back Aaron Stewart scored a pair of touchdowns as did Donovan McNeal. Liam Wiley scored on a blocked punt and Xzavion Montgomery had a kickoff return for a touchdown.

Mundelein (4-2, 2-2), which opened the season with four consecutive victories, has now lost two in a row. The Mustangs will be searching for that magical fifth win to put themselves into a position to earn their first playoff bid since 2004.

Mundelein has tough final three games on their schedule where they face Libertyville, Lake Zurich and Lake Forest.

"We did not play well in any phase of the game," Mundelein coach Vince DeFrancesco said. "We just came off a string of three consecutive games against 8A schools. It will be nice to get back to play some 7A and 6A teams coming up."

Danny McNelly threw a touchdown pass to Braden Carman for Mundelein's lone score.