Pat Disabato’s football notebook

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Richards shows a coming of age

There were numerous performances that pleased Richards coach Tony Sheehan from his team’s season-opening 26-0 victory over Harlan.

The defense caused six turnovers — three interceptions and three fumble recoveries — in recording the shutout and the offense controlled the tempo.

What pleased Sheehan the most was seeing his players — 16 of whom are returning starters — exhibit a team-first attitude.

“I really liked the way we picked each other up,” Sheehan said. “There was no finger-pointing, just patting each other on the back.

“It was good to see the maturity level coming through.”

The Bulldogs travel to Morris on Friday, hoping to avenge last season’s 28-16 loss in Oak Lawn. In that game Richards coughed the ball up four times and trailed 28-0 at one point.

“We need to play a clean game,” Sheehan said. “We’ve got to come ready to play.”

Helping the armed forces

Stagg and Sandburg will donate proceeds from their game Friday in Orland Park to the men and women of the United States armed forces.

All money collected from commemorative camouflage T-shirts, split-the-pot and concession sales will be donated to Homes4Heroes, a charity that assists military veterans. Weather permitting, there will be a fireworks show after the game.

“It’s a chance for us to say, thank you to the men and women of the armed services and our veterans,” Sandburg coach Dave Wierzal said.

Kickoff is set for 7:15 p.m.

Tough start for T.F. South

A 38-7 shellacking to Crete-Monee wasn’t quite the way T.F. South wanted to start its season.

With a combination of skill and experience, the Rebels are hoping to be much-improved from their 4-5 showing in 2011. The silver lining was that they won their final three games a season ago.

“We hope to build on last season’s finish, but last season was a nightmare,” T.F. South coach Tom Padjen said. “We’ve got to get back to being competitive, be one of the teams at the top of the conference and get back to the playoffs.”

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