Downers South storms by Proviso East

Updated: October 8, 2011 12:00PM

Proviso East did everything it could to slow down Downers Grove South running back Josh Williams Friday night.

The Pirates stacked the box with eight defenders and tried blitzing the senior star and it worked in the early going as Williams gained 36 yards on his first nine carries.

But the strategy ultimately backfired, as quarterback A.J. Simoncelli fired a 46-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Marco Scalzetti to give the Mustangs a 7-3 lead midway through the first quarter.

Simoncelli completed 11 of 18 passes for 167 yards, including a 37-yard scoring strike to Anthony Farinella in the third quarter, as Downers South rolled to a 38-9 victory that extended its West Suburban Conference Gold Division winning streak to 30 games.

“We know teams are going to focus in on Josh but we know that we can throw the ball and we were trying to create a little bit more balance on our offense and I think we successfully did that tonight,” said Scalzetti, who had another touchdown catch nullified by a penalty. “We love sharing the ball. We know that we’re going to need that in the playoffs down the road.”

Proviso East (1-6, 1-3) actually led 3-0 on a 41-yard field goal by Christian Aguirre that came three plays after Brian Ballard intercepted a pass from Simoncelli, who was hit as he threw, at the Downers 25. The Mustangs (7-0, 4-0) allowed just one yard on three plays, which was a sign of things to come.

“We stopped them on defense and made them get three points, which is actually good,” said sophomore defensive back DeAndre Washington.

Washington, who later had an interception, recovered a fumble on the kickoff that followed Scalzetti’s score. Farinella, who capped the scoring with a 32-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, missed a 33-yard field goal try on the next drive, but the Mustangs took a 21-3 halftime lead on the strength of two short touchdown runs by Williams, who eventually got going and wound up with 31 carries for 253 yards and three scores.

“I know Josh is getting all the recognition and people come out and say, ‘ooh, that kid is a big-time player,’ but we have 11 good kids that are good high school players,” Downers South coach John Belskis said. “We have two kids on the perimeter that if they load up inside like they did tonight and blitz, we’ll take the ball and throw it out to them.

“We have great balance. Our tight end is good, our receivers are good, our tailback is fine, so at least offensively we’ve got the ability to counter whatever teams are doing to try to stop us.”

Proviso East was held to 200 yards of offense, 81 of which came on a touchdown run by Ryan Jones (15 carries, 130 yards) that cut the gap to 21-9 early in the third quarter. But Downers South’s Terrance Allen blocked the extra-point kick, Williams scored on a 13-yard run and Melvin Saulsberry blocked a punt that was followed one play later by Simoncelli’s second TD pass that made it 38-9.

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