Health & Fitness
Oak Forest Football Team Cruises in Season Opener
Oak Forest High School Football team defeated Urban Prep 55-6 in their season opener as the defense forced 5 turnovers and QB Tom Zale rushed for 119 yards and 3 touchdowns and threw for one more.
In their Season Opener, the Oak Forest Bengals crushed Urban Prep 55-6. The defense played inspired, repeatedly causing Urban Prep turnovers. Brendan Power (#88), Jim Kluk (#28), Andrew Naegle (#50) recovered fumbles, Alex McEvoy (#27) intercepted a late 4th quarter pass and Rondell Saddler (#6), Jimmy Rizzuti (#1), Andrew McCann (#54) and Tom Livingston (#9) were in the Urban Prep backfield all night. On offense the big question was how would the Bengals replace all-everything Tevin Coleman? The answer on this night was: spread it around. QB Tom Zale (#7) led the Bengal rushing attack with 119 yards on 10 carries and 3 touchdowns, Matt Barry (#31) continued his fearless up-the-middle running (2 touchdowns) and Tyler Usterbowski (#2) provided the speed outside. Zale also hooked up with WR Conner Rago (#17) on a nicely timed corner pass for a 15 yard TD. In the 4th quarter, backup QB Nick Ciufia took his first snap and ran 27 yards for a TD and backup FB Ben Santiago (#23) followed up last year's Urban Prep 3 TD game by adding a late TD run from 35 yards out.
Early in the game, repeated Oak Forest penalties caused the Bengals to start a bit sluggish. Corey Brent (#3) had a 50 yard TD on a punt return nullified by a holding call and the offensive line was a bit anxious as they were whistled for 3 false starts. In the second half, Brent returned another punt 65 yards before the punter made a TD-saving tackle. Even with the blowout win, the Bengal coaching staff will find areas for improvement before next week's game against Rich Central. In addition to the penalties, the few times the Bengals tried to pass, the Urban Prep pass rush caused problems. Kicker Blake Waller (#10) made his first 7 extra points before having #8 partially blocked. By the 4th quarter the Bengals superior stamina was obvious as Urban Prep ran out of gas. A good start to the year, the newcomers got some experience and the returning players stepped it up a notch. Next week the Bengals host the Rich Central Olympians.
