As Hinsdale Central quarterback John Whitelaw took off for another one of his long runs Saturday, an Oak Park player standing on the sideline couldn't hide his frustration.

"Come on, he's only a sophomore," the Oak Park player yelled out.

The 6-foot, 165-pound Whitelaw isn't playing like a sophomore. He's showing the poise, ability and decision-making of a more experienced player, not someone who was the starting freshman team quarterback last season.

All Whitelaw did against host Oak Park was run for 224 yards on 19 carries and three touchdowns and complete 10 of 17 passes for 134 yards and two more TDs as the Red Devils won 42-22 in a West Suburban Conference Silver Division game after leading only 7-3 at halftime.

"I was nervous in the beginning of the season, but now I know what's coming, know what to look for. Going into this week, I felt pretty confident," said Whitelaw, who was promoted when returning QB Zach Leathers couldn't return from a shoulder injury.

"Last year (on the freshman team), it just basically was call the play, run the play. This year, you have to know what to look for and change a play, it's a lot more plays, but it hasn't been that hard. The coaches have made it really easy, receivers make it easy, line makes it extremely easy. I'm finally starting to get it down. Hopefully there's a long way to go and I still keep improving."

Whitelaw -- who called his line of Ben Morrison, Robbie Mains, Tim Curran, Jack Curatolo and Collin Watkins "amazing" -- broke free for eight runs of 11 yards or more, including a 38-yard TD run in the first quarter and a 41-yard gain. He completed five passes of at least 15 yards with TDs of 23 and 12 yards. His only blemish was a second-quarter interception by lineman Troy Aldridge that Oak Park turned into Sam Frank's 41-yard field goal.

"John did a great job. But John's learning, he's a humble young man and he's coachable," Hinsdale Central coach Mike DiMatteo said. "As he gets more and more comfortable with what we're doing, he's going to get better and better. I think the sky's the limit for him right now."

Just like Whitelaw, Hinsdale Central (4-1, 2-0 in Silver) appears to be getting better every week. The win not only was the Red Devils' fourth in a row, but it left them as the only undefeated team in conference play after York lost to Lyons Township 32-8 Friday. Hinsdale Central also snapped a two-game losing streak to Oak Park (2-3, 1-2) by outgaining the Huskies 495-297.

"We were real fired up coming in here," Hinsdale Central senior linebacker Chase Culbertson said. "I'm so happy for all of us that we got to get our revenge."

A big key was limiting Oak Park standout running back Levell Coppage to 86 yards on 20 carries and no touchdowns. Coppage, who lost 15 yards on his final carry when a direct snap nearly sailed over his head, came into the game with 615 yards on 83 carries (7.4 yards per carry) and eight TDs. Allan Cameron (fumble recovery, tackle for loss) and Mike Owens and Kyle Larkin (tackle for loss apiece) helped lead the defense.

"All week we were talking about Coppage," Culbertson said. "He was honorable mention all-state last year. He's just been killing teams.

"My dad every night would keep saying, 'Coppage, Coppage, Coppage.' And I was like, 'I got it.' But it was worth it because we shut him down. He hasn't seen a defense as fast as us. We really swarm to the ball. And when he had opportunities to break tackles, we were right there hitting him hard."

Culbertson made perhaps the biggest play of the game.

Leading 7-3, Hinsdale Central opened the second half with a five-play, 65-yard scoring drive capped by Billy Auriemma's 1-yard TD run following Whitelaw's runs of 21 yards on third down and 41 yards thanks to a great fake handoff.

But Oak Park came right back as Royal Farley made a spectacular one-handed 23-yard TD catch of a pass by Clarke Cuthbert (17 of 28, 181 yards) to cut the Red Devils' lead to 14-10. Then the Huskies stopped Hinsdale Central on fourth down at Oak Park's 27, but Culbertson stepped in front of a receiver to intercept Cuthbert's pass on the next play.

"It was like he was throwing the ball to me," Culbertson said of his second interception in two weeks. "It was really exciting because the offense did a great job to pounce on that opportunity."

Hinsdale Central converted the turnover into a 23-yard TD pass on fourth-and-six from Whitelaw to Davis Kalsbeek, who reached from behind over defender Kahlil Draper's head to make a fantastic leaping catch despite being interfered with on the play. That gave the Red Devils a 21-10 lead and Oak Park never got closer after that.

"Chase's interception was a big momentum changer when we needed it," DiMatteo said. "That was an athletic catch (by Kalsbeek). Davis does that kind of stuff in practice too, and we were just waiting for it to come out in a game."

Hinsdale Central went ahead 28-10 when Whitelaw hit Mac Lagor with a 12-yard TD pass with 10 minutes, 36 seconds left to start a wild fourth quarter featuring five TDs with each team scoring on every possession.

The Red Devils countered TD catches of 21 and 19 yards by Oak Park's Evan Scott with Whitelaw's runs of 5 and 8 yards, the latter coming with only 4.4 seconds to play that left some wondering why Hinsdale Central didn't take a knee.

"I don't care if there were two seconds left," DiMatteo said. "These guys were fighting back and we didn't want them to have any hope."

© Copyright 2007 Sun-Times News Group

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