Football
Scott Powers, ESPN Staff Writer 15y

Hawks defense shuts down No. 1 WWS

PARK RIDGE, Ill. -- Players are told to stay away from newspapers, Web sites, message boards and wherever else they might find words printed about their team before an upcoming game.

Maine South linebacker Matt Heraty ignored this advice leading into Friday's matchup of the No. 2 Hawks and No. 1 Wheaton Warrenville South. He went out of his way to see what everyone thought about Maine South's chances, and what he continuously read was its defense was suspect.

Heraty and his defensive teammates answered those doubters on Friday. With the perfect mixture of offense and defense, Maine South defeated visiting Wheaton Warrenville South 27-9 in Park Ridge.

Afterward, Heraty asked for a retraction.

"Nobody said we were going to win," Heraty said. "We took it personally. We had to prove ourselves."

Maine South's defensive effort surprised many, but so did its offense. It wasn't a shock that the Hawks (2-0) were able put up points -- they always do that. What did catch everyone off guard was how quickly Maine South struck in Friday's game.

The first drive took eight plays and was keyed by a 37-yard run by Matt Perez, an Indiana recruit. It was closed with a 4-yard pass from Tyler Benz to Alex Romano.

"First drive, first play, we lined up across from them, the boys sized them up, and they said, 'This is our ballgame,'" Maine South coach David Inserra said.

After a defensive stop, the Hawks were again in the end zone following four plays with the last one being a 45-yard touchdown connection from Benz to Imran Khan. Following another defensive hold, Maine South's offense was at it again and scored on a six-play drive that was capitalized with a 1-yard run by Benz.

Just like that, the Hawks were ahead 20-0, and there was 1:37 remaining in the first quarter.

"Realistically, no, I didn't think that was possible, but we had a good plan coming in," said Benz, who completed his first 12 passes and finished the game 16-for-22 with 149 yards and two touchdowns. "Our offense definitely was really going. I felt good."

Perez ran for 146 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. He also had two sacks.

Defensively, Heraty and Benz also added a sack. Maine South had a number of big hits, but notably defensive backs Mike Divito and Kevin Maloney got two major pops in against the Tigers.

Wheaton Warrenville (1-1) scored its lone touchdown on 20-yard pass from Reilly O'Toole to Dan Hohenstein in the second quarter. The Tigers cut the lead to 20-9 when Maine South snapped the ball out of the zone on a punt attempt midway through the third quarter. It would be their last score as the Hawks' defense held them on their final four possessions.

"I think the biggest thing was Maine South got a lead, hit us, they played defense and they moved the ball enough," Wheaton Warrenville South coach Ron Muhitch said. "We can learn a lot from this loss."

Scott Powers covers high school and college sports for ESPNChicago.com and can be reached at spowers@espnchicago.com

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