5 Bengals Football Players Sign National Letters of Intent

Rondell Saddler, Ben Santiago, Ricardo Vargas, Corey Brent and Tyler Usterbowski all signed national letters of intent to play college football next year. The five players all signed their letters on Wednesday, Feb. 6.

Following a season that saw the Oak Forest Bengals football team reach the IHSA 6A playoffs before falling to Lemont, five Bengals football players inked national letters of intent on Wednesday, Feb. 6, according to a press release from the school. Bengals Rondell Saddler, Ben Santiago, Ricardo Vargas, Corey Brent and Tyler Usterbowski, all completed their high school careers on a high note and now will move on to the next step in their careers and education. Saddler signed to play at Ashland University in Ohio as a linebacker. He plans to study physical fitness, with a career goal to become an athletic trainer. Santiago will play at Robert Morris University. The runningback will major in Economics and intends to become a high school …

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6A Playoff Football: Lemont Runs Over Rival Oak Forest

Lemont is one win away from advancing to the 6A IHSA championship game after its 21-14 victory over rival Oak Forest on Saturday night.

Breaking It Down: Lemont looked like the more dominant team on the Oak Forest Bengals' field during the first half of their matchup. The Bengals were statistically better in almost every category compared to Lemont during the second half of the Saturday evening contest. However, the Indians' 14-6 lead that the team built-up in the first half was too much for Oak Forest to come back. Lemont came away with its second win of the season on its rival's home turf by a score of 21-14. With the wind howling, both teams relied on their ground games heavily throughout the contest. There were a total of 70 running plays called compared to 25 passing attempts. All touchdowns scored in the game were punched in via the ground. Three of them were by …

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Is Bengal Ben Santiago Your MVP? Vote for Him!

The Bengal football star needs your support to help boost him to Patch MVP of the week! Vote now!

Is Bengal Ben Santiago Your MVP? Vote!

A record-setting diver? State medal-winning tennis player? Football hero or someone else? Who will hear the loudest roar from the crowd in voting for Southland Patch's MVP, Oct. 15-21?

UPDATE: Andrew's Bryan Warja is Patch MVP

Andrew football standout Bryan Warja outpolled 11 others in voting for Southland Patch's MVP, Oct. 15-21. Warja is now eligible for Patch Athlete of the Month honors.

Your Patch is a place to celebrate local high school athletes. Show your support for these prep sports MVPs—each of whom is Athlete of the Week in his or her local Patch—by cheering them on in the comments thread, sharing your own photos with the Patch community and voting in the poll. Do you think we're missing someone? Tell us in the comments and share his or her photo to the gallery above. (It's easy. Just click the Upload Photos and Videos link — learn more here.) Read more about this week's MVPs in the photo gallery, and show your support for them by: There is one more way for you to become a more interactive fan: Sign up to become a Patch sports blogger. (Learn more about blogging on Patch here).

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Football: Santiago, Oak Forest Run Down T.F. South

Oak Forest 28, Thornton Fractional South 20: Ben Santiago ran for three touchdowns as the Bengals gained a share of the South Suburban Blue Conference title on Friday night in Lansing.

Breaking It Down: He was Backup Ben until a teammate went down with an injury. Now, he is Conference Champion Ben. Ben Santiago rushed for 146 yards on 22 carries and scored three touchdowns in Oak Forest’s 28-20 football victory over Thornton Fractional South on Senior Night Friday in Lansing. Santiago scored on runs of 1, 4 and 19 yards as the Bengals (8-1, 5-1) gained a share of the South Suburban Blue Conference title. T.F. South (7-2, 5-1) missed a chance to win the title outright. The Rebels trailed 14-0 at half and 21-6 in the third quarter before mounting a comeback bid. Joe Young scored on an 11-yard run and tacked on the two-point conversion to cut the T.F. South deficit to 28-20. But Oak Forest’s Jeremy Kurtz picked off a fourth…

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