Rebuild Recap

Rebuild+Recap

Isaac Uram, Academic Center Sports Editor

Following their first state playoff berth in years last fall, the Whitney Young football team has struggled in 2022. So far it’s been a 1-win season, with a good win and some hard losses. By all accounts, it’s a rebuilding year.  Here’s my account of it. 

The first game this season was against Chicago Hope Academy, a revenge game for former Whitney Young coach Chris Mallette, and revenge was definitely wrought. His squad defeated the Dolphins 53-6. We could not generate much of anything until late in the game. This loss stung, but it was only the first game of the season. 

Looking to redeem themselves, we headed to Goode STEM Academy with a chip on our shoulders. There, we proved the previous loss could have been a fluke, sending Goode packing with a 27-6 win. Overall, this game was an improvement, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Congratulations to Tyson Hayes, Anthony Hood, Quinn Duhon, and Babanifesimi Opadele for being Maxpreps.com Players of the Game.

The following week, we headed into a game against city powerhouse Simeon, who was coming off a big win over Bolingbrook and was ranked top 10 in the state. Simeon came out on fire, and the Wolverines steamrolled the Dolphins 49-0. When asked about his team’s performance, assistant coach Connor O´Donnell said, ¨We faced a tough opponent.¨ 

On September 16th, following a tough loss, the Dolphins faced Michele Clark at Lane Stadium. Following a huge passing game, we lost a close one, with a score of 14-12. The superb passing game had a pair of touchdown passes and lots of big throws. 

8 days later, Whitney Young headed north to face off against our biggest rival: Lane Tech. The Dolphins kept it close, but in the end could not keep it close enough, and we took a hard, 24-15 loss.

Finally, to close out September, we had our biggest game of the season: Homecoming Game! We faced Phillips in Lane Stadium, and despite a good passing performance and some fan-thrilling catches, the Phillips run game went off, and we lost 42-7. 

Hopefully, we will have a better finish to the season than the start, as we are currently 1-5. However, our passing game has been solid, so there is still hope for the last 3 games. Get out and cheer on the team.  Remember that loving your team means loving them even during a 1-win season. Go Dolphins!

Remaining Games:

  1. Taft at Rockne Stadium 10/14 @ 7 p.m.
  2. Hubbard at Gately Stadium 10/20 @ 4:15 p.m.