Bearcats cruise to shutout of Ingots

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LAKE STATION -- On homecoming at River Forest, it was the guest who got the attention in a big way, as Wheeler rolled over the host Ingots 75-0 in Greater South Shore conference action.

Wheeler dominated from the start with the brilliant play of Mike DeSimone, Clay Duarte, James Schaffer and the rest of the Bearcats.

The trio, along with the rest of the starters, had an early night as they were able to sit out the second half and enjoy it from the sideline.

Wheeler's domination was attributed to its ability to score on each of its possession in the first half.

River Forest, on the other hand, was forced to punt on each of its possessions, unable to establish any offensive attack.

Duarte led the charge early as he and DeSimone mounted a seven-play, 62-yard drive with Duarte scoring his first of four touchdowns on the evening.

After much success with the running attack, Wheeler went to the air and DeSimone found several receivers to wrap up his half at 5-of-6 for 134 yards passing and three touchdown tosses.

"We switched things up in practice and played starters vs. starters and that seemed to get us ready and focus to not coming out flat tonight," DeSimone said.

Wheeler capitalized on each possession and brought the score to 55-0 at the half.

The second half gave many others an opportunity to play and Wheeler added to its score with a touchdown in the third and two more in the fourth.

"We played a young team that is in the building stages and they are led by a good coach in Jeff Bean, but we played well mixing up our offense and I am pleased with the performance of my players," Wheeler coach Dan Klimczak said. "Our kids are playing well and are very focused, with the wins of late, we have kids coming out early so they have to execute early and that they have done well."

Duarte carried the ball 12 times for 180 yards and four touchdowns for Wheeler

(6-0, 4-0).

River Forest (0-5, 0-4) continued to struggle offensively in the second as the Ingots fumbled on each of the five possessions in the half.