WHEATON, Ill. — Ron Muhitch, head football coach at Wheaton-Warrenville South (Wheaton) in the football-rich western suburbs of Chicago, is a grind-it-out sort of guy. Send a running back through the line. Then another. Balance it out with a few passes to make the defense pay.
Not this year, coach.
The defending Class 7A state champion Tigers are clawing their opponents with quick-strike plays and a quarterback who appears to be an impressive recruiting find for the University of Illinois.
Glenbard East found that out the hard way last Friday night, when Illini verbal commit Reilly O'Toole dropped back to pass and delivered a long perfect ball down the right sideline to Titus Davis. As he crossed the goal line, Davis caught the ball, completing a 41-yard scoring play. Soon, O’Toole and every other WW South starter was out of the game as a running clock, per state mercy rules, quickly wound down a 49-0 WW South victory.
"Reilly's the real deal," Muhitch said. "He does so many things well with the offense in terms of running a play or calling a play, just getting kids to execute a play. He's our hired gun right now."
Toss in a 72-yard punt return for a score by speedy Caleb Bednarz (college recruiters, are you watching?), and another touchdown pass by O'Toole and a 1-yard scoring run by O'Toole, and you can see the explosive offense that other DuPage Valley Conference teams will face this fall.
WW South has scored 121 points in three games, including more than 40 points in each of its last two.
"Our struggle right now … we're trying not to be a big-play offense," Muhitch said. "But we're getting some big plays and that's taking away the dynamics of a grind-out, 10-play drive, which I love. Those are the kinds of plays I like. I like to run the ball a little bit and throw the short pass and set up the bomb."
But when that bomb comes on the first play of an offensive series, and the ball is perfectly thrown? You get the picture.
O'Toole will be the last to talk about those throws, and the first to talk about the Tigers' offensive linemen giving him time to throw those balls.
"For sure, it all starts with the offensive line," said O'Toole, who passed for 24 touchdowns and more than 2,000 yards last year while being intercepted just once. "All the big throws, the big runs, it all goes back to the offensive line. That's what we try to focus on, everyone doing their job."
And like his coach, O'Toole wants to see his team establish a strong running game because he realizes what that can do for WW South's strong passing attack.
"That's what keeps the balance in our offense," Muhitch said. "And I think that’s what Illinois likes about him. He sees the big picture of offensive run and pass, and how it complements himself. He's patient enough. And he's a role player; he's not going to need to be a superstar. That's pretty special."
In addition to O'Toole, Bednarz and Davis, running back Matthew Rogers is surfacing as an offensive threat for the Tigers in a town which is emptying into the high school's football stadium on Friday nights. Parking lots are closed out early, with only a medical clinic parking lot across the street offering a few extra spaces. When WW South played host to 2009 and 2008 Class 8A state champ Maine South two weeks ago, extra bleachers were brought in to accommodate an overflow crowd. WW South won 44-7 in a game that was nationally televised.
"Just the atmosphere made it seem like such a huge game," O'Toole said. "Once you came out with the win, it felt really good, knowing that last year it was our one loss…"
Despite all the success, which includes two state championships and one state runner-up finish in three years, the Tigers find themselves battling powerful East St. Louis (2008 state champ) in the Illinois Class 7A rankings. Awaiting the Tigers is a rough conference schedule that will have them playing Naperville Central, Naperville North and Wheaton North the next three weeks. All have winning records, and Wheaton North is unbeaten. It begins at 7:30 Friday night at Naperville Central.
"Now we find out what we're made out of," Muhitch said. "We've got three tough ones in a row. We've got Naperville Central, Naperville North, Wheaton North. Bang, bang, bang. So we've got the endurance test coming up. We'll have to see if we're able to hang in there and withstand it.”
RECRUITING: RICH SOUTH'S BROOKS MAKES VERBAL COMMITMENT TO DePAUL
* MacAri Brooks, a 6-foot-2 senior shooting guard at Rich South (Richton Park), verbally committed to a men's basketball scholarship at DePaul University following a visit there Wednesday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Brooks also had offers from Marquette and Providence College. Brooks averaged 17.5 points per game last season for the 25-5 Stars, who lost to eventual state champion Hillcrest in a Class 3A sectional final. He is the second Chicago-area recruit to commit to new DePaul coach Oliver Purnell, formerly the head coach at Clemson. Previously, Crete-Monee forward Jamie Crockett, a close friend of Brooks', verbaled to Purnell.
* Melissa Dixon, a 5-foot-7 guard at Johnsburg, made a verbal commitment to the University of Iowa women's basketball program after visiting the Iowa City campus last weekend. She averaged 19.4 points per game last season for the Skyhawks, who won a Class 3A Sectional championship. "Everything was right, the coaches, the players. I had a lot of fun. After I visited, I knew that it was where I wanted to go for the overall college experience," she told the Chicago Sun-Times.
5 BIG PERFORMANCES...
* Darius Scott of Simeon (Chicago) returned two interceptions for touchdowns, covering 70 and 45 yards, leading the Wolverines (3-0) to a 48-16 win over Morgan Park in a battle of Chicago Public League unbeatens.
* Glenbard North (Carol Stream) safety Sean Fogarty intercepted two consecutive passes thrown by Naperville North quarterback and University of Minnesota recruit Matt LaCosse, returning one for a touchdown, in a 10-3 upset win over previously unbeaten Naperville North. LaCosse injured his shoulder, but is expected to play this week vs. West Aurora.
* Caleb Bednarz of Wheaton-Warrenville South returned a punt 72 yards for a touchdown and also returned an interception 30 yards for a score in the Tigers' 49-0 win over Glenbard East.
* Montini (Lombard) junior quarterback Kurt Gitchell won his first game as a starter, throwing for 288 yards and five touchdowns in a 42-14 Suburban Christian Conference win over Walter Lutheran.
* Antioch goalkeeper Alex Grimm had eight saves, including a diving save in the final minutes, to help extend the Sequoits' unbeaten streak to 10 with a 1-1 Suburban Conference Prairie Division boys soccer tie against unbeaten Round Lake.
3 TO WATCH...
* Wheaton North (3-0) at Glenbard North (3-0), 7:30 p.m. Friday: Wheaton North scored 50 points last week against West Chicago, but Glenbard North hasn't given up more than eight points all season. Wheaton North quarterback Reece Butler threw for 266 yards and four touchdowns last week.
* Catholic Academy (Joliet) (3-0) at Carmel (Mundelein) (3-0), 7:30 p.m. Friday: Catholic's star-studded lineup includes running back Josh Ferguson, an Illinois recruit, but this early season East Suburban Catholic showdown also features a Carmel squad that has put up 150 points in three games. Expect a crowd-pleasing offensive battle.
* Rochester (3-0) at Sacred Heart-Griffin (Springfield) (3-0), 7 p.m. Friday: In addition to a father vs. son coaching battle (Sacred Heart-Griffin's Ken Leonard is the dad; Rochester's Derek Leonard the son) being billed as the Leonard Bowl, both teams are unbeaten and coming off one-loss seasons. Rochester quarterback Wes Lunt has already thrown for more than 700 yards this season.
STORYLINES AROUND CHICAGOLAND
* Vernon Hills (3-0) just keeps on rolling. Ohio State recruit Evan Spencer scored on his only run, a 53-yarder, and caught a 40-yard touchdown pass from highly recruited, but still uncommitted, Davaris Daniels in a 47-0 win over Lake Villa Lakes (2-1) in their North Suburban Prairie opener. Daniels ran for three touchdowns. But despite all the offensive fireworks, the Cougars have yet to give up a point in three games. Next up: Vernon Hills plays host to Round Lake on Thursday night.
* Matt Perez, a 2010 Maine South graduate who led the Hawks to the Class 8A state championship last year with more than 2,200 rushing yards and 38 touchdowns, tore an anterior-cruciate ligament in an Indiana University practice last week and will miss the rest of the season. A possible redshirt candidate even before the injury, Perez will be a second-year freshman for the Hoosiers in 2011.
* Bolingbrook girls basketball coach Tony Smith, a former football player at Eastern Michigan University and an EMU alum, was headed to Ypsilanti, Mich., as an assistant coach with the school's women's basketball team. Until he had a change of heart. One week after accepting a job on EMU's staff, he reversed his decision and chose to remain at Bolingbrook, where Smith has coached the Raiders to two consecutive Class 4A girls basketball state championships. Two of his players, Morgan Tuck and Ariel Massengale, won World Championship gold medals this year with the USA Basketball U17 Women's National Team. "Bolingbrook is my home and I really couldn't face the team and tell them that I was leaving," Smith told Sun-Times Media.
Paul Bowker, an online and newspaper sports journalist for 25 years and the author of two Major League Baseball books, covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He may be reached at bowkerpaul1@aol.com.
