A bunch of game changers, record breakers

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It was Week 6 and Matt Perez had just finished running for 119 yards and two touchdowns and notching two sacks in a 30-2 win over Evanston.

Maine South coach Dave Inserra walked over and put his arm around this reporter, and pointed at his standout running back/defensive end.

"There is your player of the year right there," he said.

At the time, it seemed as if it was just another coach campaigning for his top player to earn some postseason honors. But now a week before the state finals, there is not a better candidate.

Perez headlines the 25-man Sun-Times 2009 All-Area team, which features some of the nation’s top college prospects, a national record holder and offensive and defensive conference players of the year.

‘‘Matt just makes us extremely special as a team,’’ Inserra said. ‘‘He’s really quiet and very humble. He would just not get the notoriety and let his team get the attention.’’

Hinsdale Central’s John Whitelaw is in the same boat as Perez — a humble leader and an ‘‘irreplaceable’’ player on the field. In the Year of the Quarterback, Whitelaw, who is headed to Yale, rates a slight edge over the rest.

‘‘He makes everybody around him better; he’s a game-changer,’’ Red Devils coach Mike DiMatteo said. ‘‘He’s going to be difficult to replace — if not irreplaceable.’’

Whitelaw accounted for 35 touchdowns in nine games and averaged nearly 350 yards of total offense a game. He also called his own plays during two-minute drills and made his own audibles.

‘‘I expected a lot of myself this year,’’ said Whitelaw, who sat out Hinsdale’s playoff loss with a concussion. ‘‘[Yale] can expect a lot from me. Our offense is a little more diverse. Hopefully I can bring them something they don’t have.’’

Other All-Area players who have made commitments are Proviso West receiver Kyle Prater (USC), Johnsburg tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz (Illinois), Fremd offensive lineman Christian Lombard (Notre Dame), Proviso East safety Corey Cooper (Illinois), Homewood-Flossmoor offensive lineman Zach Fulton (Tennessee) and Providence cornerback Peter Houilihan (Eastern Illinois). Cooper, Fiedorowicz and Prater are repeat selections.

St. Rita defensive tackle Bruce Gaston Jr., Geneva defensive tackle Frank Boenzi and Joliet Catholic linebacker Jake Stockman are also Division I prospects.

Semifinalists Wheaton Warrenville South, Loyola and Glenbard West each have two players on the team: kicker Nick Immekus and lineman Rocco Ammons (WW South) linebacker Connor Loftus and offensive tackle Jordan Walsh (Glenbard West) and punter Paul Delaney and linebacker Pat Dougherty (Loyola).

Glenbard North defensive lineman Nick Abbate, Marist defensive back Dan Piko, Lake Zurich returner Jacob Brinlee and Cary-Grove offensive lineman Hayden Baker represent their respective semifinal qualifiers. Walsh, Brinlee and St. Rita running back Jahwon Akui were the three juniors picked.

Riverside-Brookfield receiver Mark McDonagh, a national and state-record holder; Naperville North linebacker Nick Lifka; and De La Salle defensive back D.J. Bland round out the team.