Evergreen Park no one-trick pony

Updated: September 6, 2011 7:24PM

Evergreen Park coach Dan Hartman has had a perfect start to his coaching career, with the Mustangs registering victories over Phillips and Payton.

With a returning All-Area running back Victor Baker in the fold, the Mustangs were expected to make short order of both opponents. That they did.

However, as good as Baker is, Hartman realized sooner or later the Mustangs would have to exhibit an ability to throw the football.

“I feel like as we move further and further along in the season, especially this week (Eisenhower), we’re going to have to be able to pass the ball,” Hartman said. “We worked on establishing a passing attack the first few weeks.”

Senior quarterback Jesse McClain is capable of airing it out and has a couple of dangerous targets in senior Jarrod Jackson, junior Mike Reuter and sophomore Jaquet McClendon.

McClain has made good throws and, most important, made sound decisions, according to Hartman.

And Baker has been his usual productive self, recording a 65-yard touchdown run Friday during a 41-0 win over Payton.

Hartman, however, is well aware the Mustangs are facing an upgrade in competition Friday with Eisenhower coming to town. The Cardinals are coming off a 42-21 drubbing of Andrew.

Evergreen Park will need a big effort from its defense, led by linebacker Wendel Lamar.

“Their quarterback (Eisenhower’s Justin Geiter), I would say, is one of the best players in the area,” Hartman said. “We have to at least contain him. It’s the only way we’ll have a shot.”

Argo getting healthy

Slowly but surely, Argo is regaining its health after a bout with injuries.

The Argonauts lost to Curie in Week 1, but rebounded Friday to upend Ridgewood.

“We’ve been hit by the injury bug pretty hard,” Argo coach Jim Innis said. “We had some players return in the second week. But we had to bring three sophomores up the first game.”

Argo welcomed back Cody Hopper, a linebacker/offensive lineman, and running backs Johnquail Scott and Kaylen Sturges were much healthier against Ridgewood.

There’s additional good news on the horizon with the expected return of linebacker/tight end Anthony Meier for Friday’s game against Shepard.

“We think we’ll get Meier back on Friday,” Innis said. “We are not a very deep team in any one area. But it’s given an opportunity to the young guys to step up.”

One of those guys has been sophomore Hector Vazquez, who did a nice job at linebacker in the season opener before shifting to fullback against Ridgewood. Senior DeMario Turner has done a nice job wherever Innis has asked him to play.

“If we can ever get everybody healthy, we can be a pretty competitive team,” Innis said.

Lenti closing in

Mount Carmel coach Frank Lenti has 314 career wins, one shy of the all-time IHSA record held by Richards great Gary Korhonen.

Lenti’s Caravan hosts De La Salle on Friday at Gately Stadium.

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