Mustangs Strike Early and Often Against Morton

On a night when  honored members of its 2001 state title team, it was fitting that the Mustangs played like champions.

Josh Williams tied a career-high by scoring six touchdowns, including three on each of the Mustangs’ first three plays from scrimmage, and the defense recovered four fumbles to fuel a 56-0 rout of Morton in a West Suburban Conference Gold Division opener contest Friday night in Downers Grove.

“No, I didn’t expect it to happen that way, but we came out, we executed our plays and it was just a total team effort,” Williams said. “I couldn’t do it without the guys blocking for me, the guys leading up to the holes, the guys leading around the edge for me. I’m just grateful to have such a great group of guys working with me.

“We work hard and when you work hard, great things happen out on the field. We’re really happy that we executed our plays and played well today.”

After Morton (1-2) went three-and-out on the opening possession, (3-0) took over on the Mustangs’ 39 and quarterback A.J. Simoncelli tossed a screen pass to Williams, who scampered down the left sideline untouched to give the hosts the lead just 73 seconds into the contest.

Korey Higgins recovered a fumble two plays later, and on the ensuing snap, the Mustangs ran another screen to Williams, this time to the right side, and he took it in from 18 yards out. After another short punt by Morton, Williams burst 45 yards up the middle for his third score and a 21-0 lead.

By the end of the first quarter, the Mustangs’ advantage was 35-0 as Williams had finished the next two drives with scoring runs of 5 and 11 yards. He later added a 54-yard touchdown run and finished with 182 yards rushing on 11 carries in addition to three catches for 84 yards. The touchdown receptions were particularly satisfying.

“Every touchdown is special, but to have two reception touchdowns is, I wouldn’t say rare for me, but it only happens every once in a while,” Williams said. “So I’m very grateful for that.”

, which recorded its second straight shutout and has allowed only seven points thus far, found the end zone on its first seven possessions. Simoncelli completed five of seven passes for 120 yards and three touchdowns, the last a 19-yarder up the middle to a wide-open Anthony Farinella, who is also the team’s kicker.

It was the first career varsity touchdown for Farinella, who made all eight of his extra-point kicks and barely missed a 40-yard field goal.

“We knew it was going to be open,” said Farinella, who is has drawn interest from Northwestern and Northern Illinois for his kicking prowess. “We ran it before, so all I had to do was run and catch the ball and I knew I’d score.

“It was really nice. This year I’ve been playing a lot more at slot back. When the ball’s thrown to me, I want to catch and score every time.”

The Mustangs scored nearly every time, fueled by a defense that limited Morton to 185 yards of offense and received fumble recoveries from Higgins, Marco Scalzetti, DeAndre Washington and Scott Daly.

“It doesn’t always go according to script, but we open the game with a play, then run the same play the other way and it just seemed like the thing to do,” said coach John Belskis, who won his 190^th career game. “Our kids executed well. I’m proud of our kids. It was a fun night. We got everybody in the game.”