Sports

Warriors Blank Maine East, 43-0

Deerfield High School's Colton Emmerich continues to dominate on defense while Brian Ranallo grows into offensive leader.

 Domination was the name of the game for the Deerfield High School football team Friday as it defeated Maine East, 43-0, Friday at Adams Field for its second consecutive Central Suburban League North Division victory.

With a defense led by Colton Emmerich, the Warriors held the Blue Demons to 84 yards of total offense recording their second shutout of the season. Emmerich had a sack and two tackles for loss as Maine West could gain only 51 yards through three and a half quarters before Coach Steve Winiecki rested his defensive starters.

“He should be the defensive player of the year in the league,” Winiecki said of Emmerich after last Friday’s 62-40 win over Maine West. “It was nice to put everything together.”

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On offense, sophomore quarterback Brian Ranallo continued to show leadership in place of injured Ben Ethridge as he ran for 131 yards, passed for 29 more and scored three of Deerfield’s six touchdowns.

“He makes great decisions,” Winiecki said of Ranallo’s contribution to the team. He started the last two games and played most of this one after Ethridge was hurt against Highland Park Sept. 27. “He (Ranallo) is a student of the game. He has a very quiet confidence.”

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Ethridge started the game and led the Warriors to an 8-0 lead on a 39 yard run by Alex Williams midway through the first quarter. Ranallo took over late in the first period engineering a drive capped by Landen Hinds’23-yard ramble. Ranallo picked up 25 yards on the drive.

After that, it was Ranallo who scored the next three touchdowns. He scored on a 52-yard run in the second quarter, a 68-yarder in the third and a three yard scamper five minutes later. “Last week he made good decisions and opened things up for others,” Winiecki said. “This week he got the scores.”

Alex Frank tallied Deerfield’s final touchdown on a four-yard run carrying the ball on each snap of the five-play, 39-yard drive.

Deerfield evened its league record to 2-2 with its final game of the year at 7 p.m. Friday at Niles North. The Warriors overall mark is 3-5.


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