Mustangs knock out Proviso East

Proviso East coach Aaron Peppers only needed a few words to sum up how his team played on Friday night.

"We had our lunch handed to us," Peppers said. No argument there.

Proviso East (1-5, 1-2) can forget about the state playoffs after a 42-6 loss to Downers Grove South (4-2, 3-0) in a West Suburban Conference Gold Division game.

The game was decided quickly after Downers South scored touchdowns on its opening four possessions to build a 28-0 lead at halftime.

Downers South quarterback Chandler Whitmer, who has orally committed to play next season at Illinois, threw a pair of touchdown passes to Reggie Miller of 30 and 25 yards. Miller also had an 8-yard touchdown run. Whitmer added another TD pass on a 53-yard toss to Ryan Oruche.

The only scoring opportunity for Proviso East in the first half came after an interception by linebacker Phillip Wells with 16.6 seconds to play in the second quarter. Wells returned the ball 68 yards to the Downers South 23.

Whitmer made the tackle to keep Wells out of the end zone. The drive stalled on a third-down incomplete pass in the end zone as the first half ended.

The Pirates were unsuccessful on four fourth-down plays in an attempt to move the chains and keep possession in the opening 24 minutes.

Oruche scored on runs of 6 and 4 yards in the third quarter to give Downers South a 42-0 lead with 5 minutes, 32 seconds on the clock. The Pirates avoided a shutout thanks to a 6-yard run by Darnell Swanigan on the final play of the third quarter.