Wheaton Warrenville South didn’t let a little something like a broken-down bus slow up proceedings Friday night in Frankfort.
Despite all of its pregame preparation being thrown out of whack, Wheaton South adjusted on the fly and came away with a 28-7 victory over the Lincoln-Way East Griffins in the Class 8A opener.
The Tigers will host next week’s second-round game against the winner of Saturday’s Naperville North-Belleville East matchup.
The bus carrying Wheaton’s offensive players arrived on schedule, but the defensive team’s bus was stranded at Weber Road and Interstate 55, a 40-minute drive from its destination. Once repaired enough to proceed, the bus arrived an hour later.
“We had to get all the kids refocused because it was a zoo,” said defensive coordinator Ted Monken, who had been at the hospital Thursday night and Friday morning with his wife Trina. Their first-born baby, Madison, was born at 11:15 a.m.
“Go to the game,” Trina had told her husband.
“We had two assistant coaches ready to take his place if Ted didn’t make it,” said Wheaton coach Ron Muhitch.
Tigers linebacker Colton Antos (12 tackles) was certainly in focus when he intercepted a Mike DiGiovanni pass and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown less than three minutes into the game.
Wheaton South (7-3) scored on its first offensive play when Brett Jackson scooted 14 yards for a touchdown following Danny Falvey’s 36-yard punt return.
Tigers linebacker Mike LaBelle led a dominating defense with 16 tackles, an interception, a fumble recovery, a sack and a pass deflection.
“We sat on the bus and our coaches told us to try to turn this into an advantage for us,” LaBelle said. “Coach Monken doesn’t like long pregame warmups anyway. Did I help fix the bus? Well, no.”
A third interception, this one by Timothy Gerlesits, set up Wheaton’s third score, quarterback Nick Panno’s 44-yard TD run when he broke three tackles on a quarterback draw. DiGiovanni threw four interceptions and was sacked four times.
Wheaton South added another insurance score in the third quarter when a screen pass from Panno to Nick Possley turned into a 70-yard touchdown play.
Lincoln-Way East (6-4), which tied Homewood-Flossmoor for the SICA Blue title, avoided a shutout early in the fourth quarter when Matt Oskielunas scored on a 1-yard run.
