Football Wrap • Week 2 | Sandburg tops Oak Forest to even record

By Mike Walsh
Correspondent

If Sandburg can be described in one word, it might be “resilient.”

One week after a loss at home to St. Rita, the Eagles bounced back with a 26-11 win on the road over host Oak Forest on Sept. 1.

Junior quarterback Anthony Shelton delivered an impressive performance, scoring on a 6-yard run and adding an 11-yard TD strike to Luke Dyra.

The Eagles have scored 47 points in their first two games.

“Anthony is taking a big step forward this year,” Sandburg coach Troy McAllister said. “He has an understanding of the offense, he’s leading the team, he’s making the right decisions at the right time, and each game we’re seeing him grow a little bit.”

Shelton is in his second season as the starting signal-caller for the Eagles.

“Anthony has a high football IQ,” McAllister said. “He sees what’s happening and he can take advantage of what the defense is doing.”

Along with Shelton and Dyra, Sandburg received contributions from sophomore running back Luke Basiorka, who tallied on a 28-yard run, and kicker Adrius Stankus, who booted field goals of 36 and 21 yards.

Up next for Sandburg is a road trip to DeKalb (1-1) Friday to conclude their nonconference slate. The Barbs are coming off a 20-7 home victory over Plainfield South.

“We played St. Rita in Week 1 and that was a physical game and we were pretty banged up,” McAllister said. “And Oak Forest is also a physical team. This was good for our young men to bounce back the way they did.”

Shepard 42, Brooks 14
Cameron Tryon tallied 163 yards of total offense to go along with two touchdowns as host Shepard (1-1) garnered a nonconference triumph. Tryon tallied TDs of 56 and 69 yards, respectively. Peyton Woods-Evans returned a kickoff 80 yards for a TD for the Astros.

Also contributing for Shepard were Jimmy LaScola (9-of-15 passing, 138 yards, 2 TDs), Anthony Loughran (12 carries, 116 yards, TD rushes of 22 and 31 yards) and Aiden Brooks (3 catches, 27 yards, TD reception of 5 yards).

The Shepard defense forced three turnovers.

Evergreen Park 34, Longwood 14
Antonio Clay-Jones rushed 14 times for 194 yards and a TD and David Johnson chipped in 94 yards and three scores on nine carries for host Evergreen Park (2-0). Aidan Bench provided a nine-yard TD reception for the Mustangs.

Lonnie Mosley added an interception for the Evergreen Park defense, which recorded five sacks.

Riverside-Brookfield 35, Hinsdale South 27
Diego Gutierrez threw a 74-yard TD pass to Tohma Tucker as host Riverside-Brookfield (2-0) prevailed in nonconference play. Garrett Angshed added an interception for the Bulldogs.

Mount Carmel 22, Morgan Park 12
Junior quarterback Jack Elliott threw for 216 yards and added three first-half touchdown passes for host Mount Carmel (2-0). Elliott threw two TD passes to Maurice Densmore (22 yards, 1 yard) and one to Danyil Taylor (26 yards).

St. Rita 33, Kenwood 20
D.J. Stewart totaled 143 yards on 15 carries and scored four TDs for host St. Rita (2-0). Among Stewart’s highlights were scoring runs of 55 and 8 yards. Nick Herman added 102 yards rushing on 13 carries for the Mustangs.

Leading St. Rita’s defense were Ray Saffold (2½ sacks, fumble recovery), Noah Gertonson (15 tackles, interception) and Justin Buckner (6 tackles, interception).

Reavis 43, Rowe-Clark 8
Nick Gomez (6 carries, 66 yards) scored on runs of 10 and 3 yards for host Reavis (1-1) in its nonconference triumph. Jorden Brown (3 carries, 42 yards) found the end zone on a 13-yard run for the Rams, who also tallied on a 5-yard run by Dennis Muraida. Blake Stefanek added five PAT kicks.

The Reavis defense was anchored by Skylar O’Neil (4 sacks) and Sebastian Dlugopolski (3 sacks).

De La Salle 42, Clark 0

David Coffey scored on runs of 25, 54 and 19 yards for host De La Salle (2-0). Coffey had eight rushes for 136 yards.

Kenyonte Louis tallied on a 6-yard run. Louis (5-of-6, 110 yards) also threw a 5-yard TD pass to Miles Green while Julian Overton hit Caleb Navarro with a 6-yard scoring pass.

Josue Hernandez (9 tackles), Tristyn Hynes (8 tackles), Jaxson Brown (7 tackles) and John Witowski (5 tackles) paced the Meteors’ defense, which also received interceptions from Darren Jones and Tremayne Cheers.

Libertyville 34, Richards 14
Riley Lamphere caught a 55-yard TD pass from Dijon Newman and Myles Mitchell tallied on a 3-yard run for visiting Richards (0-2).

York 42, Nazareth 13
Logan Malachuk was 13-of-21 passing for 229 yards and two touchdowns for visiting Nazareth (0-2) in nonconference play in Elmhurst. James Penley (7 catches, 169 yards) caught both TD passes for the Roadrunners, including a 42-yarder.

St. Laurence 1, Noble 0
St. Laurence (2-0) picked up a forfeit victory.

Lyons 13, Wheaton-Warrenville South 0
The Lions (1-1) evened their recordwith a nonconference win at home.

Niles West 41, Morton 0
Host Morton (0-2) dropped a nonconference contest.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Saint Xavier 45, Saint Francis (Ind.) 28
In Fort Wayne, Ind., the visiting Cougars opened their 2023 campaign with a win. Running back Amari Venerable ran for 136 yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns, including one of 63 yards. Quarterback Aidan Voss (14-of-29, 236 yards, 3 TDs; 15 carries, 63 yards), Justin Pringle (4 catches, 79 yards, 2 TDs), Matthew Chavers (10 carries, 78 yards, TD), Kyle Quinn (2 catches, 57 yards, TD) and Peyton Benes (6 PAT kicks, 40-yard field goal) also contributed for SXU, which gained 291 yards rushing on 43 attempts and amassed 527 yards of total offense.