Defense Comes Through Again for Downers South

powerful offense has gotten a lot of publicity this season and rightly so.

But for the second week in a row, the Mustangs’ defense and special teams turned in an inspired performance that, if repeated, could lead to a state title.

Thanks to the defense, the host Mustangs (10-1) had a short field to work with on each of their first four possessions and that helped them to a surprisingly easy 41-14 victory over Brother Rice Friday night in a Class 8A second-round playoff contest.

The victory moves into next week’s quarterfinals, where it will face the winner of Saturday night’s Bolingbrook/Mount Carmel game.

“Offense usually runs the town over here, so we thought it was our turn to do something,” senior cornerback/kick returner Danny Leach said. “We wanted to show other teamsthat we’re just as good as our offense.”

Mission accomplished. Brother Rice (7-4) turned the ball over on downs on its first two possessions. The Mustangs scored three plays into their first drive when Josh Williams took a shovel pass from A.J. Simoncelli 48 yards for a touchdown.

After the second stop, the Mustangs were forced to punt, but Brother Rice’s Dan Lyons muffed it and South’s DeAndre Washington recovered. The hosts turned that opportunity into a 22-yard field goal by Anthony Farinella.

The misery was just beginning for the Crusaders, who went three-and-out on their next series. Leach returned the ensuing punt 28 yards to the Brother Rice 13 and two plays later Williams scored on a nine-yard run to make it 17-0.

Jeremy Ulrich then recovered a fumble on Brother Rice’s next play and three plays later the Mustangs cashed in again, with Williams taking it in from two yards out for a 24-0 lead with 9:16 left in the second quarter. It was South’s sixth takeaway in two playoff games and all have come in the first half.

“We killed ourselves,” Brother Rice Coach Steve Nye said. “We made way too many mistakes in the first half. We gave them great field position, gave them the ball, gave them all the momentum. They’re a good team but we didn’t help ourselves.”

The Mustangs extended the lead to 27-0 when Farinella booted a career-long 47-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.

To their credit, the Crusaders made a game of it in the third quarter, finally getting the ground game going and pulling within 27-14 as Andrew Walker scored on a runs of 27 and 2 yards on consecutive possessions. Walker finished with 18 carries for 129 yards while Martez Walker gained 154 yards on 18 carries.

“[Martez] finishes his career as the No. 1 rusher in school history and Andrew is the No. 2 rusher in school history, so they’ve had great career for Brother Rice and have had a lot of exciting moments,” Nye said. “We were in every game all year. They never quit and they didn’t quit tonight, so I’m proud of them for that.”

But Brother Rice’s comeback was stopped in its tracks by Leach, who returned the next kickoff 52 yards to the Crusaders 38. Four plays later, Simoncelli tossed an 18-yard touchdown pass to Kaylon Miller on the first play of the fourth quarter.

"Coach [John Belskis] told us that we needed something big here,” Leach said of his big return.  “We have the talent to do it every week out there and our middle wedge just blocked great for us. All I had to do was run up the middle.

“I know I have the ability to do it. I was able to do it as a junior last year, and it just comes with confidence and it’s a team effort. I know if my team does their part blocking then I have to do my part, catch the ball and run up the field.”

Williams, who carried 26 times for 109 yards and two touchdowns and caught four passes for 56 yards and a score, praised his team’s defense.

“They stepped up big time,” Williams said. “To hold Brother Rice to 14 points, that says a lot. We’re underestimated a lot being in the West Suburban Gold. We don’t get any credit for what we’re doing so it’s good for us to come out and show the whole state what we’re able to do against the elite teams.”

Indeed, the Mustangs, who also received a one-yard touchdown run from John Wauer, are getting tired of being underestimated despite being the higher seed the past two weeks.

“We’re always going to get that being that people don’t consider our conference one of the better conferences, but we just have to execute and that’s what we did tonight,” Williams said. “Any team can be beat. It gives you extra drive knowing that you’re the underdog going into the game so you just have to come out and play with the mindset that you’re trying to make someone [believe].”

Neither Nye, Williams or Belskis expected the one-sided result, but Belskis said it’s time to start believing in the Mustangs.

“These kids, nothing that they do surprises me,” Belskis said. “We’ve played a team from the DuPage Valley and a team from the Catholic League Blue and all the self-proclaimed experts always say we play in a weak league and we don’t belong.

“I guess they’re not as much of an expert as they think they are. If they want to publicly make fools of themselves, let them go ahead, but come out and watch our kids play and then say something about our team.”