| York trusts sophomore QB in win By Phil English Special to the Tribune October 6, 2007, 12:27 AM CDT York's thrilling 33-28 home victory over Hinsdale Central Friday night featured nearly a dozen big plays from both sides of the field. But for the Dukes, the game came down to one thing: trust. Trust that a defense that was getting mauled by the Red Devils through most of the second half would step up and make big plays when needed. Trust in a sophomore quarterback to make perhaps the biggest pass of his young career when he needed to most. And trust in a reliable and speedy senior who would carry the team on his back most of the night. The senior---Mike McNulty--- finished the night with 147 yards on 27 carries and two touchdowns while the sophomore---Tom Judge---threw for three more TDs as the Dukes took a step closer to their third-straight West Suburban Silver title with the victory in Elmhurst. York (5-2, 4-1) squandered an early 21-0 lead and watched as the Red Devils (5-2, 3-1) clawed their way back into the contest, eventually taking a 28-27 lead with 8 minutes 19 seconds to play. When Hinsdale recovered the ensuing on-side kick, the game looked to be all but over. That is until sophomore linebacker Erik Westerberg pulled down Red Devil quarterback John Whitelaw (15-for-31, 228 yards, two TDs) at the line of scrimmage, one yard shy of a first down on fourth-and-one with 6:25 remaining. That gave the Dukes another chance. Three plays later, Judge, on fourth-and-3, lofted a pass from his own 47 to McNulty, who hauled in the finger-tip catch and raced the rest of the way for a 53-yard touchdown play that proved to be the game-winner. "We were actually looking for a shorter route, but they had Mike in man-on-man (coverage) and he did a great job getting to the ball," said Judge. "Coach (Bill Lech) has been saying all year that if I see Mike against man-to-man, get the ball to him." "And I trusted that he could get it to me," said McNulty. "That's what's great about this team. We trust each other. The defense made a big stop, and when we got in the huddle, we all decided that we just wanted it more." Hinsdale had one last shot, but senior defensive back Jordan Banuelos picked off a deep Whitelaw pass with :05 remaining to seal the victory. York appeared in control from the get-go, with McNulty and Luke Regole hauling in TD passes from Judge in the first and McNulty adding a 29-yard run in the second to stake the Dukes to a three-touchdown advantage. Hinsdale struck back late with Whitelaw hitting Troy Laing with a 20-yard scoring pass with 2:06 remaining to cut the lead to 21-7 at intermission. A TD pass from Whitelaw to Laing and a 50-yard TD run by Whitelaw (13 rushes, 111 yards) sandwiched a McNulty 21-yard score in the third as York maintained a 27-21 lead heading into the fourth. When Whitelaw hit Connor Marrero with a 14-yard scoring pass with 8:19 to go, it gave the Red Devils their first lead of the game. That is until York discovered the trust factor. Copyright © 2007, ChicagoSports.com http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/highschool/football/cs-071005hc,0,2023808.story?coll=cs-highschool-utility
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