Oilers celebrate present, past with rout

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WHITING -- After nine painstaking months of preparing for the season, Senior Night sends a quick message that high school careers will soon end for some leading upperclassmen.

At Whiting, Friday night's festivities were perhaps geared more toward priming its seniors to spearhead their way to a flourishing postseason.

The Oilers (6-3, 5-2) ended a two-game losing streak by closing out their Greater South Shore Conference slate by handily defeating Lake Station 54-0 at Ray Gallivan Stadium.

And besides, this regular-season home finale not only honored the seniors, but the anniversary of Whiting's unbeaten 1948 mythical state champion team.

That in itself should indeed lift the spirits of Jeff Cain's crew, knowing the Oilers of 60 years ago were mostly responsible for turning the small city into a football-crazed community.

"It's amazing many of us are still around, but we continue to inspire the young Oilers teams ... hopefully one will duplicate what we were able to accomplish back in '48," said Phil Mateja, a standout who went on to star at Purdue.

"This program is very small but it's such a big plus for the community and you know we're always behind them." added Mateja, who still holds several Purdue records, including a three-interception game against Notre Dame in 1952.

Going up against an undermanned Lake Station team, the Oilers forced three first-quarter fumbles and all but put the contest away with a19-0 edge midway through the opening period.

Senior quarterback Dan Macon completed 7-of-10 passes in the first eight minutes of play, including touchdowns of 50, 15, 12 and 32 yards.

"Dan threw the ball very well tonight and hopefully we're headed in the right direction and still have that hunger that we'll need as sectionals open," Cain said.

Although he admitted the contest wasn't a true measuring stick he did seem pleased to see improvements on some things that needed mending after the disappointing losses to Calumet and Clark.

"Defensively, I thought we were a whole lot better tonight and that gives us something to point to," he added.

Sophomore Juwan Simmons was impressive as he snagged two of Macon's bullets for TDs, while Emerick Quiroz went to the house for a 50-yarder on a fly pattern.

The Oilers will face Triton, the team that eliminated them last season, in next week's first-round sectional contest.

Senior linebacker Dan Fishel, starting in just his first season for the Oilers, had a tremendous defensive performance with seven first-half tackles and a blocked punt.

"We just need to practice hard and go out and play tough the way we know how because none of us seniors are ready for this thing to end," said Fishel, who is a move-in from the Hobart district.