Wheaton Warrenville South welcomes the expectations. The Tigers embrace history, and perhaps that's why they keep making it.
The last time WW South lost in the DuPage Valley Conference - or a regular season game for that matter - George W. Bush was campaigning against John Kerry and the Red Sox were preparing for Game 1 of the World Series. It happened on Oct. 22, 2004, against Naperville Central at Memorial Stadium.
On Friday night, while two presidential candidates debated in Oxford, Miss., and people asked for out-of-town baseball scores, WW South proved some things haven't changed. The Tigers extended their DVC and regular season winning streaks to 24 and 32 games with a dominant 45-7 victory over Central.
"We're trying to live up to everything," WW South quarterback Joe Furco said afterward. "We're reminded of it every day.
"All week coach (Ron) Muhitch was just reminding us of that - that this was the last field that we lost on and we can't repeat that."
Central (4-1, 2-1), which came in ranked No. 16 in the Chicago Sun-Times poll, wanted those streaks intact but found itself trailing 21-0 within the first 10 minutes. And with that the only suspense came in the form of updates from the Metrodome and U.S. Cellular Field.
"Offense, defense, special teams, we got beat in every phase of the game," Central coach Mike Stine said. "We weren't ready to play. ... "Obviously, (that) falls on my shoulders."
WW South (5-0, 3-0) gained at least 15 yards on four of its first five plays, whether it was Furco throwing out of a five-receiver set, scrambling or pitching it to Peter Jarrett on the option. That versatile 72-yard drive - capped by Jarrett's three-yard touchdown run - took less than four minutes, and it completely set the tone.
Central's defense, which notched 22 sacks in its first four games, couldn't pressure Furco, who came into the game completing less than 48 percent of his passes.
On the first play of WW South's second series, wide receiver Orlando Ross read man coverage and a blitzing linebacker and sprinted to the open space. Ross caught the slant pass from Furco and just kept running, all the way into the end zone for a 70-yard touchdown.
"They mixed it up very well and they hit some home runs on us," Stine said. "They threw the ball quick. (They) weren't going to give us time to get to the quarterback."
From there WW South went conservative, Furco handing off to Jarrett 16 times for 102 yards. Central moved the ball at times, but couldn't finish drives, and junior quarterback Nick Linne, so steady throughout the 4-0 start, threw four interceptions.
"We tried playing (our) hearts out but there were times where we couldn't get all 11 guys to do really exactly what we needed to do. We had nine or 10 guys doing the job," Central running back Nick Kukuc said. "(WW South) came out flawless."
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