There wasn’t any mystery as to how Richards seized control early in its 18-7 South Suburban Red victory Friday night over Oak Lawn.
With a whole lot of Tommy Mister.
The 6-foot-1, 181-pound junior pretty much was unstoppable, rushing 19 times for 129 yards and two touchdowns.
Of Richards’ first 13 plays, 10 were runs by Mister. The longest were for 26 and 16 yards. Two of them were for touchdowns of 8 and 2 yards. It was 12-0 with 3:40 left in the first period.
The only mystery might be why the Bulldogs (4-1, 3-0) went away from Mister on their next drive, which stalled at their own 41.
“He’s got a lot of ability,” Richards coach Tony Sheehan said. “We just wanted to get as many weapons on the field as we possibly could.
“We want to pound the rock. We know we can pound it with him.”
Mister contributed a nine-yard run and a five-yard pass reception from Hasan Muhammad-Rogers before Muhammad-Rogers tossed a 34-yard TD pass to Ryan Willett to make it 18-0 at halftime.
Oak Lawn (1-4, 1-2) tried to establish a running game with Darius James (26 carries, 87 yards), but met with minimal success until the second half. The Spartans dominated play in the final two periods, scoring on a 28-yard pass from Bob Olsen to Drew Everett. But the Bulldogs defense prevented any drama with a fourth-quarter stand deep in their own territory.
