Duarte leads way as Wheeler rolls

VALPARAISO -- After two weeks of the season, Wheeler running back Clay Duarte had three touchdowns.

In the last two weeks the senior has multiplied that modest number by more than four, including five on a muddy Friday night as the Bearcats extended their regular-season winning streak to 11 with a 55-6 victory over North Newton.

And he scored them from every which way -- from a 1-yard plunge up the middle to open the scoring just 1:12 into the contest to a 9-yard sweep to the right in the second quarter to to a 54-yard romp on the first possession of the second half that completed a whopping 12-second drive.

Duarte would have had a sixth touchdown if not for being stopped at the 1-yard line midway through the fourth quarter.

His quarterback, Mike DeSimone, kept it on the next play to steal a TD away from the area's leading scorer, much to the surprise of those watching, including the North Newton assistant coaches.

"Not at all," Duarte said when asked if he said anything to DeSimone. "He can get one. I'm here to help win games. As long as we're winning it doesn't matter who's scoring the touchdowns."

But Duarte is the one scoring TDs at a frenetic pace. He was leading Northwest Indiana in touchdowns with nine going into Friday's game (a four TD lead on the closest player). Now he has 14 and likely an even bigger lead.

Despite the sloppy field and constant rain, Duarte finished with 246 yards on the ground and 19 more on a pass reception.

"It's very hard to stop him, especially on these field conditions," North Newton (0-4, 0-2 GSSC) coach Marc Hall said. "I'll have to look back at the tape, but I thought we had people in position to tackle him and we just lost our footing at times."

The Bearcats (4-0, 2-0) weren't all about Duarte on Friday. They wanted to mix it up a little just to show they aren't a one-trick pony. DeSimone had 112 yards passing that came mostly on two plays in the first quarter -- a 54-yard picture-perfect fly pattern to Sam O'Shea that set up Duarte's first TD, and a 44-yard TD pass to O'Shea with 1:06 left in the period.

O'Shea later scored on a 21-yard run when he subbed in at QB for DeSimone.

"On a rainy night we can't throw too much, but we want a multi-faceted offense," Wheeler coach Dan Klimczak said.

Contact Steve Gorches at 648-3141, sgorches@post-trib.com or visit his blog at blogs.post-trib.com/gorches.