Maine South bounces back in big way, beats Warren

PARK RIDGE – Constantine Coines, Michael Dellumo and Maine South roared back Friday night in Park Ridge.

Coines and Dellumo led an offense that piled up 440 yards as Maine South flew past Warren 35-18.

It was a different Maine South team than the one that got beat 49-22 by Lincoln-Way East last week.

“We weren’t going to push any panic buttons,” Maine South coach Dave Inserra said. “We made a decision to stay with Constantine because we know what he did for us last year. So there was no panic. And when your running back gets two interceptions, that’s not a bad thing either.”

It all started with Coines.

The senior quarterback was 11-of-18 for 208 yards. He also rushed for 135 yards on five carries with touchdown runs of 54 and 69 yards.

“I trusted everyone more this week,” Coines said. “We put in the work and I got the ball out quicker. We came out and we fired.”

Dellumo also had a big night. He rushed for 87 yards on eight carries with touchdown runs of 39 and 38 yards. He also had two interceptions.

“It is amazing to come out here and win,” Dellumo said. “That was a big loss last week. It really put a burden on all of us and we had a bad taste in our mouth. It came down to preparation. And we were ready.”

Maine South (1-1) had an opportunity to take an early lead late in the first quarter. But the Hawks fumbled at the Warren two and the Blue Devils recovered in their end zone.

Warren (1-1) then went on a 11-play, 80-yard a drive to take a 6-0 lead on just the second play of the second quarter. Aaron Stewart, who was named Chicago Bears high school player if the week on Thursday thanks to his effort last week, scored on a 17-yard burst on fourth and two. Maine South blocked the conversion to keep it 6-0.

Maine South came right back behind Coines. The senior completed three quick passes before busting off a 54-yard touchdown run to make it 7-6.

After stopping Warren’s ensuing drive on fourth and four from the Hawks 9, Maine South took over at its own six.

It took Coines just four plays to drive the distance. Coines began the drive with a 59-yard completion to Jacob Vitel. Three plays later, Coines connected with Vitel on slant pass for 16-yard touchdown with 1:55 left in the half.

But the Hawks were not done.

Dellumo intercepted a deep pass and returned it to the Warren five. After the ball was returned back to midfield because of a holding call, Maine Sourh went to work with 45.7 seconds left in the half.

It took the Hawks just 19.9 seconds to score again, Dellumo broke away for a 39-yard touchdown run with 25.8 seconds left in the half to make it 21-6.

Maine South increased its lead to 28-6 on Dellumo’s second touchdown run from 38 yards out.

Warren went back to the ground. The Blue Devils put together a 15-play, 72-yard scoring drive on all running plays that took up over 8 minutes. Stewart, would gain most of those yards and scored on a 5-yard run to cut the lead to 28-12 with 2:01 left in the third quarter.

It took Maine South just two plays and 22 seconds to reassert themselves. That came when Coines broke away on a 69-yard touchdown run to put the game away.

Warren added a late touchdown on a one-yard run by Jack Wolf.

“They made some big plays and that just killed us,” Warren coach Bryan McNulty said. “We are not a quick scoring team. We are going to grind you. We are going to lick our wounds and we will be OK.”

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