Miami Heat star and U.S. Olympian Dwyane Wade came back to Richards, his alma mater, on Friday night to get away from a certain hurricane named Frances.
Instead, the former Richards All-Stater ran into a perfect storm named Morgan Park.
“I just wish the score was the other way around,” Wade said of No. 11 Morgan Park’s 39-13 rout of No. 13 Richards.
Morgan Park blew out to a 33-0 lead by halftime, courtesy of Demetrius Jones, its 6-foot-3-inch, 180-pound game-breaking junior quarterback.
He was at the eye of the Mustangs storm, scoring on runs of 1 and 17 yards while throwing a 9-yard touchdown pass to Orlando Moore and a 66-yard TD pass to Robert Moore.
“That Demetrius Jones is an awesome football player,” Richards coach Gary Korhonen said. “Everybody kept telling me that he couldn’t throw the ball. On that (9-yard) fade pass for the touchdown, our defensive back, Kevin Johnston, was all over the receiver. But Jones made a perfect pass.”
Touted as the program that could bring the Public League its first state football championship, Morgan Park has opened the season with victories over perennial state powers Mt. Carmel and Richards.
“It wasn’t a surprise to us,” said Jones, who was 5-for-6 passing for 157 yards and two TDs and left after the first play of the third quarter. “We’ve been preparing for this all summer.
“This season we are stressing that we get the job done on and off the field. I’m talking about the classroom, church, everything. We all learned a lot at the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) camp we attended together. We are developing a lot of team unity.”
Richards was missing starting quarterback Matt Whitney, who provides balance with his passing ability. Replacement QB Tim Marcell broke away for nice runs in the second half and scored on a 7-yard run after Morgan Park backup running back Dejuan Solomon went 60 yards for a TD on the first play of the third quarter.
“Demetrius is one of the toughest quarterbacks I’ve had,” Morgan Park coach Lexie Spurlock said. “I teach my quarterbacks to get out of bounds after a nice run, and Demetrius has to learn that if he wants to last the season.
“Those are two great programs (Mt. Carmel, Richards) that we’ve been able to beat. It’s a very big step up for our program.”
