Wheaton Warrenville South captures Battle of Butterfield Road, beating Glenbard South
For the season opener, the 12th Man, Wheaton Warrenville South’s student cheering section, opted to dress in tropical-themed clothing.
In turn the Tigers made Red Grange Field a paradise for their classmates by dominating Glenbard South in the Battle of Butterfield Road, 35-10.
Wheaton Warrenville South (1-0) proved that its veteran-laden offense was superior to that of Glenbard South (0-1), which still is finding its way after losing key players like Cam Williams and Michael Champagne to graduation.
“There's a lot of positives to take away from a good first game,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Sean Norris said. “And first games are always a challenge, but our kids were ready, and they showed. So yeah, a lot of positives to build off of.”
Those positives included Luca Carbonaro guiding the Tigers offense with 150 yards on 13-of-22 passing. He also ran for the game’s first two touchdowns from 2 and 25 yards out, respectively, within 1 minute, 56 seconds during the first quarter.
Carbonaro continued to lead impressive drives in the second quarter but turned to Owen Yorke to finish those drives with respective touchdown runs of 3 yards and 1 yard.
Yorke also ran for an 81-yard touchdown late in the third quarter as the exclamation point of a night in which he ran the ball 23 times for 211 yards.
“Just kind of having that vision of looking past the linebackers and look for the safeties and seeing where I can cut off of them and my receivers,” Yorke said regarding his secret. “And trying to find the open space and just get there and exploit that.”
Amari Williams had 5 receptions for 86 yards with all but one of those catches registering in double figures. Brady Goken caught two passes for 14 yards.
Sophomore Tommy Bauman made his first Raiders start as quarterback. After a slow start, he had a couple of big completions late that led to his team’s first score by virtue of a Jacob Garbett 36-yard field goal.
Bauman ultimately connected on 11 of his 21 attempts for 89 yards.
“We realized based on the situation we have to be able to move the ball vertically,” Glenbard South coach Ryan Crissey said. “We have to be able to move the ball through the air, and (Tommy) was able to show us that he can make these throws.”
Jonny Baldauf benefited the most from Bauman by catching three of those for 35 yards. He also had a 33-yard touchdown reception from backup quarterback Frankie Cassata with 1:59 remaining in the game.
A first half in which the Raiders had only three first downs hurt even more when Devontae Clark needed assistance getting off the field after suffering an injury. He left the game having run for 16 yards on 8 carries.