WW South smokes St. Laurence 41-0

Wheaton Warrenville South got some extra inspiration Friday night from a local football hero.

Chicago Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher was on hand in Wheaton, giving the Tigers a pregame pep talk before their first-round playoff match against St. Laurence.

Wheaton Warrenville South followed the surprise speech with their most lopsided victory of the year, a 41-0 drubbing that propelled the Tigers (10-0) to a second-round date against defending Class 7A state champion St. Rita.

"They get tired of listening to me all the time," Tigers coach Ron Muhitch joked. "(The kids) didn't hear a word I said. They were just looking over their shoulders, and then he came up and talked to them just before they came out."

"I didn't even know what to think about that," Wheaton Warrenville South running back Peter Jarrett said. "We walked into the wrestling room, and all I saw was his back. I knew it was him right away.

"He told us to enjoy it, play hard, and enjoy every play, so we tried to do that. It worked out well for us."

Wheaton Warrenville South struck first on their second drive of the game, as Jarrett bulled into the end zone from 7 yards out.

The 6-foot junior added touchdown runs of 60, 49, and 4 yards as the game progressed, helping to keep the Tigers comfortably ahead all night.

"(Fullback) Mike Olp, the O-line, those guys make it easy for me," Jarrett said. "My job's not too hard anymore."

Tigers quarterback Mike Piatkowski peppered in a pair of touchdown passes in the second quarter, both of which went to tight end Mike Sloboda. The 28-point quarter put Wheaton Warrenville South ahead 41-0 at the half.

"I thought the kids came out and played extremely well from the beginning," Muhitch said. "I thought we did pretty well passing the ball in that second quarter. It was fun to see Mike (Piatkowski) come up with a hurry-up offense and get us down there for a couple quick scores, and our defense came up with a lot of turnovers tonight."

The Tigers defense flew around rainy Red Grange Field all night, intercepting Vikings quarterback Adam Tapling four times.

Muhitch knows that even though the Mustangs are a No. 4 seed this season, next week's game will be anything but a walk in the park.

"I know that their 6-3 (record) is deceiving," Muhitch said. "It'll be a battle because you'll have a lot of quality football history on the field, and you'll have quality, returning state-championship defense."