Surging Bulldogs have plenty to celebrate

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It was a night of celebration at Richards Friday night.

First, the Bulldogs honored assistant football coach Frank Salvatori for his 37 years of service during a pregame ceremony prior Richards¹ game against Eisenhower.

The honor included Richards presenting Salvatori with a flag with ³Sal² inscribed in gold letters. His family members hoisted the flag up the flag pole amid cheers from the crowd.

"What an honor," said Salvatori, who thanked family, fellow coaches, faculty and former players for the honor.

Then during halftime, Richards celebrated the 20th anniversary of the undefeated 1988 state championship team.

Gary Korhonen, the state¹s all-time winningest football coach, introduced players from the title team who made a return visit to the Oak Lawn campus.

Needless to say, Bulldog Nation ate it up.

Then the 2008 Bulldogs, who were knotted 7-7 with Eisenhower at intermission, gave fans something more to cheer about with a 23-7 win over the Cardinals on Korhonen Field.

"It was a great night," Richards coach Tony Sheehan said. "Sal talked to the players on Thursday night and it was a great speech."

Much of the speech focused on the Murphy Cup, named in honor of longtime Richards and Eisenhower faculty member Ed Murphy. Murphy is Salvatori¹s father-in-law.

"I didn¹t know anything about the Murphy Cup," said Richards quarterback Jon Ryan, who rushed for 116 yards and passed for 119 during the win. "Coach Sal educated us on the whole thing."

The Bulldogs, winners of three straight and now 4-3 on the season, shook off a sluggish first-half and dominated the Cardinals over the final 24 minutes.

Ryan, who recorded touchdown runs of 11 and 51 yards, continued to make a name for himself in the area. The junior left-hander completed 8 of 15 passes, and his 51-yard TD came on a quarterback draw on a third-and-26 play.

"The coaches always believed in us," Ryan said. "We¹re just playing much better as a team than we were three weeks ago."

Keith Sconiers' 38-yard run with 8:21 remaining in the game helped extend the Bulldogs¹ lead to 21-7.

Sconiers, noted for his receiving skills, exhibited his rushing prowess on that specific play.

"We¹ve been fooling around with that play in practice," Sheehan said. "We saw that we could get the edge and we used it."

The Richards defense was opportunistic, with Julian Venerable recovering a fumble and Scott Mitchell picking off a pass.

The Bulldogs¹ offensive line of Pat Kush, Eric Irvin, Brian Turner, John Francis and Andy Crivellone stepped up big-time in the second half.

"We heard what people were saying early in the season," Ryan said. "But we continued to believe in ourselves. We just have to keep working hard and getting better."