Warriors girls basketball team defeats Rich Central behind McCann’s 25 points.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
The Willowbrook football team was rewarded for its continued strong play with a quartet of conference accolades.
Included in that group is Edgar Quintas being named the West Suburban Conference Gold Division offensive lineman of the year. Jack Jessen was named the WSC Gold MVP, Martique Barksdale was named special teams player of the year and Betty Ann Garrett was named kicker of the year. Willowbrook won the WSC Gold with a perfect 6-0 record and advanced to the state quarterfinals for a second year in a row.
“Our offensive line meshed well together,” said Quintas. “We had some kids like Matt Knudtson who were with us last year and know what to do. Brandon Loth played center last year and moved to right tackle. Tyler Guerrero was the backup center last year and fit right in with everything we were doing. We worked together. We knew what to do out there and knew what to do with the game plan and then would go out and rep through it in practice and go through all the scenarios and possibilities we would see. We would watch film and communicate what our people would do.”
Qunitas said he was in a similar position last year on the offensive line in terms of fitting in with established veterans. “Last year I meshed very well with the offensive line,” he said. “They knew each other and I was filling in at right guard. They welcomed me.”
Quintas played right guard this season. “From last year I improved on my footwork,” he said. “Last year I felt I was a little slow. I worked on trapping and trying to see blitzes better and moving people around more.”
Qunitas also took pride in the fact the Warriors’ offensive line did a good job preventing quarterback sacks.
“We didn’t give up a lot of sacks,” he said. “When we did it was because of simple mistakes and us not having our heads on swivels.”
Qunitas added it was a pleasure blocking for Willowbrook’s skill-position players, headlined by Jessen.
“They were very talented,” he said. “It was fun to see our guys hit our seams and score touchdowns. It was a lot of fun watching them run around.”
Qunitas had a good idea Willowbrook could be successful once again this season.
“I felt like we could do it again and we did it,” he said. “This season was very special. We won the conference title this year after being very close last year. This year we weren’t leaving without that.”
Qunitas also has a thought or two on why the program has enjoyed its recent success. “A lot of people buy into what the coaches are teaching,” he said. “Coach (Nick) Hildreth focuses on the culture and guys were always in the weight room after practice. We all believed in what we were doing. The coaches helped us a lot with that.”
Qunitas noted he’s thinking about going into the physical therapy field after high school. “I want to help people out,” he said. “I’ve seen what physical therapists do for football players and I feel like I can help people out like that.”
Willowbrook girls basketball
The Willowbrook girls basketball team scored a 52-46 victory over Rich Central at the Marist tournament.
Willowbrook trailed 12-4 after the first quarter and 27-19 at halftime. The Warriors outscored Rich Central 15-7 in the second quarter and 18-12 in the fourth quarter to earn the win.
Katelyn McCann led the Warriors with 25 points. She made three 3-pointers and hit 4 of 6 free throws. She also had seven rebounds and six steals. Maura Heneghan added eight points and five rebounds, while Maureen Schmid had eight points and four rebounds. Emma Barrington had six rebounds, while Sydney Verdino had eight rebounds. Jayla Smith finished with three steals.
