Round-up: Glenbard South's offense opens up

For a team that was having trouble just getting into the red zone, Glenbard South sure looked at home in the end zone on Friday night.

With a 49-14 victory over DeKalb, the Raiders not only broke out of their doldrums offensively, but nearly equaled their entire output for points scored over the first four games.

A breakout night, indeed.

"We definitely needed to get our offense back on its feet," Glenbard South coach Dan Starkey said. "It was nice to have a night like this."

Mike Oratowski had perhaps the nicest night of all. His first carry went for a 47-yard touchdown. Two carries later, he had his second TD, this one from 11 yards. In fact, the junior scored 4 touchdowns on his first 8 carries in what amounted to little more than a quarter.

"I'm usually a first-down running back, so to break a 47-yard touchdown was great," Oratowski said. "I knew it was going to be a pretty good night after that run."

It was. Oratowski scored 3 TDs less than nine minutes after the opening kickoff, then added his fourth on the first play of the second quarter as South opened a commanding 28-0 lead.

The Raiders' scoring was especially notable considering they were shut out last week vs. Geneva and managed just 6 points the week before in a close loss to Batavia.

"We really wanted to get off to a great start, and we did that in a big way," Starkey said. "It was good to see us shake things loose."

Glenbard South (3-2 overall, 1-2 Western Sun Conference) was driving again before halftime, only to have its momentum snapped when DeKalb's Matt Fletcher picked off a Kevin Marshall pass and rambled 53 yards for the touchdown.

But South responded with resiliency and firepower, needing just 30 seconds and four plays to roll up a 53-yard scoring drive. After a 30-yard run by Kyle Slott, Marshall (11-for-17, 141 yards) connected with Chris Loos for a 30-yard TD just before halftime for a 35-7 Raiders lead.

"We've got some explosive athletes," Starkey said. "It was fun to finally see them make some big plays."

William Hill fit that bill. He set up two touchdowns with punt returns of 40 and 38 yards -- including his own 21-yard scamper midway through the third quarter. Hill (6 carries, 61 yards) added another TD just moments later after an interception by Zak Kammer set South up deep in DeKalb (3-2, 2-1) territory.

For Oratowski, it was a night like no other. With starter Nick Summers sidelined by injury, Oratowski has taken over. He finished with 89 yards on 11 carries.

"I've never had a stretch of four TDs in eight carries -- at any level," he said. "The coaches were on us all week to pick it up offensively. We got it done tonight on both sides."

-- Jeff Long

St. Charles East 30, Lake Park 0:ŒSt. Charles East coach Ted Monken had plenty to be pleased about Friday night in Roselle.

His defensive line continued to come together, and new punt returner Eian O'Brien gave the team a spark on special teams. Added together, Monken's Saints convincingly shut down Lake Park 30-0 in Upstate Eight Conference action.

O'Brien's punt-return touchdown came just 1:32 after the Saints grabbed the first lead of the game on a four-yard touchdown pass from Sam Gunther to Jake Krzeczowski.

O'Brien fielded Larry Nawrot's punt on his own 32-yard line, then cut up the right sideline and through the Lancer defense to put St. Charles East (4-1, 3-0 Upstate Eight Conference) ahead.

Monken inserted O'Brien on special teams this week, replacing senior Matthew Hammer.

"The new wrinkle is we got (O'Brien) back there," Monken said. "He's finally got some confidence that he would be able to catch the punt and not have to worry about it.

"We were confident Eian would do a great job, and what a spark he gave us. He's got tremendous speed, and he showed he could catch the ball and do something with it."

Not to be outdone, Hammer also ignited the Saints offense, catching a Gunther pass over the middle and twisting 18 yards to the left pylon just 6 seconds before halftime.

"We had some drives fizzle out, we missed a field goal, so we really had moved the ball and very likely could have had a couple more scores," Monken said. "To put that one in before the half was definitely huge."

Junior Wes Allen built on his success from a week ago, torching the Lancers for 219 yards, including an 81-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

Perhaps most impressively, though, the Saints held Lake Park (1-4, 0-3 UEC) to just 99 yards of total offense, as the defensive line consistently won the battle in the trenches.

"That group has been such a tremendous surprise," Monken said.

Lake Park's rushing game never got going, averaging merely two yards per carry.

"We couldn't block (defensive tackle Dave Mashal)," Lancers coach Andy Livingston said. "They got a whole lot of good defensive players."

With a relatively young team, Livingston hopes his players learn from their mistakes, specifically concerning Hammer's touchdown and O'Brien's return.

"If we could have sucked it up for another 15 seconds there…that's a huge learning curve," he said. "You give up a 70-yard return, that happens in 10 seconds, and all of a sudden the momentum is really gone."

-- Matthew McClarey

Joliet Catholic 55, Benet 10: When the Benet football team teed it up Friday night, the game was a good test case for the shelf-life of momentum. Fresh off their first win of the season, a stirring upset of previously undefeated St. Viator, the Redwings leapt from the frying pan squarely into the fire as they visited powerful Joliet Catholic Academy.

Any momentum from the previous week lasted all of 5 plays and 109 seconds, or as long as it took the Hilltoppers (4-1, 3-0) to march 68 yards for their first of 8 touchdowns in a 55-10 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory. It was the fourth straight game that JCA topped 50 points as the Hilltoppers ran up 23 first downs and 504 yards of total offense.

"Our quarterback, Johnny Ruettiger, does a great job. We have three great backs, maybe the best we've ever had; the offensive line is blocking well, guys are catching the ball; we're clicking right now," Hilltopper coach Dan Sharp said.

Six Hilltoppers scored in the first half as they sprinted to a 48-7 lead at the break --Ruettiger, Brandon Geiss, Tyler Hudetz and Connor Krisch on touchdown runs, and Tim Bennett and Sean Sheppard on scoring tosses from Ruettiger.

The Redwings (1-4, 1-2) were able to make some headway through the air in the first half. Quarterback Jimmy Riley connected on 7 sizable gains to Mike Wuest, Nick Christie, Emmett Carrier and Dan Cannon, four of which came on a 13-play, 80-yard drive in the second quarter that culminated in Dan McGue's 7-yard TD run and a glimmer-of-hope 21-7 deficit at the time.

But Riley's passing prowess was offset by no rushing yards in the half, meaning the Hilltoppers could start teeing off on the junior QB -- which they did, recording a pair of sacks, intercepting 3 passes in the half and forcing a Riley fumble that led to the final score six seconds before the break.

"I knew we'd have trouble running the ball, but you can't throw the ball on every down against Joliet Catholic because then they'll start sending six or seven guys after you," said Benet coach Gary Goforth.

Goforth decided to rest both of his starting units for the entire second half in the hope that his team has a final push in it that will culminate in a playoff berth.

"We'll just put this behind us and move to next week (against Marist)," he said. "We're in a single-elimination tournament now, and if we keep winning, we'll play in Week 10. If not, then we turn the equipment in."

-- Chris Traczek