Pick your poison

Trojans dominate Addison Trail with three quarterback attack

Depth can be a great advantage for any football team. But when that luxury comes at the quarterback position, it could be a frustrating night for the opposing defense.

Such was the case for Addison Trail on August 31. It didn't have to deal with one or two different quarterbacks from host Downers Grove North - it had to deal with three. Each signal caller brought a different skill set and each contributed to the Trojans' first win of the season, a 35-0 decision.

The win helped erase the feeling of despair after Downers Grove North watched a victory slip through its fingers in the season opener two weeks ago against Prospect. The Trojans were inside the Prospect 10-yard line four times, but couldn't score.

The Trojans' previous red-zone failures were a hot topic as they prepared for Addison Trail.

"I told them when you get to the red zone," Trojans coach John Wander said, "you have to go lower, tougher and harder and the backs have to hang on to the ball."

Downers Grove North (1-1) did just that against Addison Trail and did it often after struggling through its first two possessions of the game. That's when Wander decided to utilize his depth at quarterback.

In came Andrew Orton for Joseph Honn and suddenly the Trojans were moving the ball. Orton scored on a 9-yard keeper with 1:23 left in the first quarter to give Downers Grove North a 7-0 lead. The senior set himself up for the run with rushes of 5, 11 and 5 yards on the six-play drive.

"We saw something we could do with Orton's style of play, so we let him play," Wander said.

The Trojans continued from there and scored twice more in the first half using a combination of Orton's legs and Honn's arm.

Orton anchored Downers Grove North's second touchdown drive with four straight rushes, the last of which went 11 yards for a 14-0 lead with 3:18 left in the second quarter.

"We were talking about finishing all week in the red zone and we were able to take that with us in this game," Orton said.

Downers Grove North quickly got the ball back against a tired Addison Trail defense and this time it was Honn's turn to contribute. He tossed a 23-yard touchdown pass to Arthur Gutzke with 16 seconds left in the half. Gutzke caught the ball over the middle at the 10-yard line, ran left and picked up a couple of good blocks near the goal line as he crossed over for the score.

"You have to get your defense off the field and you also have to create some kind of field position whether it's with the kicking game or the offense," Addison Trail coach Paul Parpet said.

Honn watched the rest of the game from the sidelines with a bruised ankle he suffered on the first drive in the third quarter.

Orton finished the game with 75 yards on 11 carries before making way for David Stachura at quarterback, who carried the ball 11 times for 53 yards and one touchdown.

The Mustangs improved to 2-0 with a 35-21 victory over York on August 31 in Elmhurst.

Quarterback Chandler Whitmer completed 9 of 24 passes for 194 yards and three touchdowns, including two scoring strikes to wideout Wes Manzer (5 catches, 134 yards, 2 TDs). Senior Jared Culver added a pair of rushing scores and tallied two sacks on defense and Nick Brown added 115 yards on nine carries for Downers Grove South.

The Dukes (1-1) led 7-6 early in the opening quarter after Mike McNulty's 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Two plays later, Manzer hauled in his first score of the game and the visitors never looked back.