Ross Dansdill, Wheaton North hold on to reclaim upper hand on Wheaton Warrenville South in crosstown rivalry

WHEATON – Hugh Werner gave Wheaton North a pep talk prior to Saturday’s crosstown game, calling it their “Super Bowl” with no playoffs this year.

His fellow Falcons’ linebacker had other motivations.

Sophomore Ross Dansdill is well-versed in the rivalry, on both sides. His two cousins, Adam and Pat, were standout linebackers for Wheaton Warrenville South. Pat is now the defensive coordinator of the Tigers’ sophomore team, but Ross is all Falcon.

“Our relatives live on the South side, we live on the North side,” said Ross Dansdill, a mountain of a 6-foot-3, 220-pound sophomore linebacker. “They’ve been trying to get me to move to go to South, but being on the North side, I think we turned out well. It feels good, I’m going to talk some trash with them a little bit.”

The Falcons indeed have the upper hand again in the friendly rivalry, leading all the way and holding on for a 17-14 win in a matchup of previous unbeatens on Saturday afternoon at a sun-splashed Rexilius Field.

Dansdill and the Wheaton North defense turned away a last-ditch Tigers’ drive for the win or tie, after WW South blocked a 32-yard Falcons’ field goal attempt with 1:31 left. On fourth-and-two from the Wheaton North 42 with under a minute left, a gang of Falcons stopped Tigers’ quarterback Parker Brown just short of the sticks.

“We prepared all week; we practice the two-minute drill all the time in practice,” Dansdill said. “We put our hearts into this and got it done.”

Falcons’ quarterback Mark Forcucci was 13-for-22 for 166 yards, orchestrating two touchdown drives at critical moments and a third time-consuming drive in the fourth quarter, and fellow junior Brayton Maske ran for 118 yards on 28 carries with a rushing touchdown and caught a TD.

Both were among a handful of underclassmen that took their lumps last year as sophomores in Wheaton North’s second straight 4-5 season. But the future is indeed bright with the Falcons (3-0) and the present is pretty good too, validated further with a crosstown win for the first time since 2017.

“To get this win means so much, especially with the seniors,” Forcucci said. “That’s who we were playing for. Being on the varsity level with me and Brayton and [Kaiden] Libby, that second year of experience and confidence is big.”

Wheaton North was already leading 3-0 on Trace Hrgich’s 25-yard field goal with 6:11 left in the second quarter when a big momentum swing occurred in the final minutes of the first half.

WW South (2-1) pushed a 36-yard field goal wide left, leaving Wheaton North at its 20 with two minutes left in the half. From there Forcucci led a 13-play, 80-yard scoring drive, capped off by Maske’s 24-yard touchdown run on the last play of the half.

Forcucci completed a 13-yard pass on third down to keep the drive alive, converted a third down with a run and later scrambled for 17 yards.

“End of the half, two-minute drill, we practice that so much throughout the week,” Forcucci said. “We put so much time into that just so we can execute the way we did.”

On Maske’s run around the left side, he broke two tackles at the 5-yard line and kept going for the 10-0 lead.

“We had them tackled right before the half. That was the game,” WW South coach Ron Muhitch said. “That was one of our kids not getting in his gap and [Maske] made a great play, he bounced off of two tacklers. Their quarterback makes plays, third-down keepers, we knew he was good at that.”

Forcucci indeed made several clutch throws or runs when his team needed them most, and spread the wealth to five receivers.

“Our entire receiving corps and skill guys are so talented,” Forcucci said. “It’s such a plus for us.”

WW South’s Eddie Robinson, who ran for 121 yards on nine carries, got the Tigers on the board with a 65-yard TD run with 6:20 left in the third quarter.

But the Falcons came right back, Forcucci’s 15-yard TD pass to Maske making it 17-7 with 2:23 left in the third quarter.

Brown, 15-for-21 for 124 yards, threw a 9-yard TD pass to Robinson to close within 17-14 with 9:28 left – but the Tigers couldn’t finish their own two-minute drill at the end.

WW South didn’t have much time to work with, as Wheaton North milked eight minutes off the clock with the preceding drive that ended with the blocked field goal.

“I pumped this up as a quarterfinal game in the kids’ minds,” Muhitch said, “and we haven’t learned how to win that big game with one or two plays that make a difference with this crew.”