The trio of Basiorka, Durkin and Ruisz sounds like it should be a law firm located in Orland Park.
It’s not.
What it is, however, is the foundation of an offense that has allowed Sandburg to start its season 5-0 for the first time since 1998.
On Sept. 26, the host Eagles welcomed former coach Troy McAllister and Homewood-Flossmoor to Orland Park. Later that night, Sandburg sent the Vikings home with a 31-7 defeat.
“It’s special,” Sandburg coach Sheamus Murphy said. “But it goes back to our day-to-day and the process and they deserve it. The kids deserve all of it.
“We stress the fundamentals each and every day and it’s starting to come out in our play.”
Sean Ruisz got the Eagles off to a great start as he connected with Quinn Durkin on an 85-yard TD pass at 6:54 of the opening quarter.
In the second quarter, Ruisz found Lucas Matykiewicz on a 26-yard TD pass to make it 14-0 with 7:32 remaining in the half.
After Ruisz’s 3-yard TD run made it 21-7, Luke Basiorka joined the fun on a 29-yard TD run, increasing Sandburg’s advantage to 28-7 with 9:38 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“It was a three-headed monster,” Murphy said. “I think we have an identity now and that includes all three of them. Basiorka is the toughest kid on the football field. He’s a horse. He pounds it strong, but he’s also elusive. He played really well (Friday) night.
“We’ve got three dudes. We’ve got Ruisz, we’ve got Basiorka and we’ve got Durkin. They exactly bring something different — all three of them. They’re good football players and they’re even better kids and they’re riding this thing.”
Sandburg concluded the scoring with 2:40 to play in the game as Drew Drzonek drilled a 49-yard field goal to make it 31-7.
Drzonek also has converted field goals of 36, 30, 42, 39 and 37 yards this season.
Making the victory for Sandburg that much more meaningful was that it was homecoming, the Eagles were wearing their gold jerseys and gold pants and they were facing McAllister.
From 2020-24, McAllister was 20-23 with the Eagles, reaching the IHSA playoffs in 2021, 2023 and 2024.
After McAllister left for H-F, Murphy, a 2008 Sandburg graduate, became the new head coach at his alma mater.
“The players were juiced up for (Friday night’s game),” Murphy said. “No doubt about it. Football’s an emotional game and you play with emotion.
“You just can’t get too high and you can’t get too low. We told the guys to play with good enthusiasm and they had a little extra juice for this one.”