Football: Hinsdale South, King, Win Wild Debut for New Coach

As far as debuts go, Hinsdale South coach Michael Barry’s will not be remembered for style points. 

But a win is a win. The Hornets overcame opening night jitters, turnovers and miscues and took advantage of Romeoville’s five turnovers in a narrow 22-20 road win. 

On the opening drive, junior quarterback DJ Deolitsis fumbled on the Romeoville 10 after a 10-yard run on a sneak. Lucky for him, WR DJ King happened to be in the right place. He picked up the fumble and stayed upright long enough to put the Hornets (1-0) up 7-0. 

The Spartans (0-1) threatened several times in the first half, but their red zone offense and special teams were dismal, blowing several scoring chances. After forcing a fumble TD late in the first, the Spartans failed on their two-point conversion after two delay-of-game penalties. 

Penalties were a problem in general. The Hornets and Spartans combined for a total of 21. Four of them were personal foul penalties and three were delay of game.

The Spartans, down 9-6 going into the second half, appeared to have solved their problems. Perez Ford scored on an eight-yard run midway through the third quarter and a successful two-point conversion put them up 14-9. 

However, special teams problems reared their ugly head once again. A wide snap on a punt attempt allowed the Hornets to sack the punter and put them in excellent field position. Deolitsis took advantage and showed his big-game potential with a 23-yard strike to DJ King on fourth-and-17, putting them at the 1. 

“(King) is without question one of our top players,” Barry said. “He’s a tough kid who can do a little of everything.”

After a 15-yard personal foul penalty by the Hornets, Deolitsis shook it off and put the Hornets back up with an 8-yard TD pass to receiver Justin Ward to give the Hornets a 15-14 lead after a missed two-point conversion. 

The Spartans took the ball right back and had it at the Hornets 2-yard line with 2:30 left in the fourth when running back Caleb Bailey fumbled the handoff at the 5. 

DJ King, once again, was in the right place. He took the ball 95 yards back for his second touchdown of the game. It was the Spartans’ fifth — and costliest — turnover of the game.

“We knew it was coming,” King said. “And I knew I just needed to make a play.” 

Spartans QB James Rooks got them back into the game on the next drive with a 25-yard touchdown to Duvuan Goodlow. They needed to go for two and the Hornets knew they were going to Ford, who had more than 161 yards rushing on 24 carries. They stopped him on the sweep to put the game away.

“I know it’s a cliché, but we never gave up,” Barry said. “This is a great group of kids.”