Providence blanks Oak Forest

Providence's Tim Hanrahan (5) breaks through Oak Forest's Ryan Burton (15) and Ron Blaszkowski (21).
(Brett Roseman/SouthtownStar)

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Providence safety Shane Paty could be excused for putting greater significance on his team’s Class 6A first round match-up against Oak Forest than most of his fellow Celtics.

Paty played youth football with the Oak Forest Raiders and remains good friends with many of the Bengals.

As a matter of fact, his family still calls Oak Forest home.

‘‘I was getting text messages all week saying how they were going to crush us and that they were 8-1 and we were 5-4,’’ said Paty. ‘‘But I know how tough the Catholic League is and how you can’t always go by a team’s record.’’

That was proven Friday night.

Behind a pair of interceptions by Paty and a whopping 266 yards rushing and a touchdown by Tim Hanrahan, Providence blanked the Bengals 30-0 in Oak Forest.

The Celtics advance to take on Joliet Catholic (8-2).

While Hanrahan and Paty starred on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, respectively, kicker Pat Wright was a lethal special teams weapon.

Wright booted field goals of 37, 40 and 29 yards and drilled four of his six kickoffs into the end zone.

‘‘I had a groin injury and rested all week,’’ said Wright. ‘‘I guess it worked out good that I did.’’

Hanrahan, who had rushed for 1,144 yards in the regular season, got Friday’s total on 32 carries. The Celtics’ workhorse applied the icing on the victory cake with a three-yard burst to extend the lead to 30-0 with 5:46 remaining.

Oak Forest had its chances to reach the end zone. Bengal quarterback Jon Wolf (7-of-30, 54 yards) overthrew a wide open Lucas O’Connell with his team trailing 16-0 in the third quarter. Then with the Bengals still trailing 16-0, receiver Sean Martinez didn’t have a Celtics defender within 10 yards of him when he dropped another sure-fire touchdown early in the fourth quarter.