Give the Blue Devils their duo in win over Mundelein

The compliments were flying, just like the pretty passes were.

But when a quarterback and a wide receiver team up for 76 passing yards on just 4 completions, including two picture-perfect touchdown receptions, they probably should brag about each other a bit.

"Best quarterback in the state," said Warren wide receiver Ryan Maguire, pointing at his quarterback, Zach Shaw, as he left Mundelein's soggy and muddy field Friday night.

"That guy right there," Shaw said, pointing back at Maguire, "he makes plays for me all day. All day right there. He's the best route runner in the state. I trust him going up against any corner in the league, in the state. I'll throw it right up to him and he catches anything I throw."

It seemed that way against Mundelein.

The Shaw-to-Maguire connection gave Warren its first score - on a 30-yard passing play - just four minutes into the game, and the floodgates opened from there.

The visiting Blue Devils rolled up four more touchdowns before halftime en route to a thorough 35-6 drubbing of Mundelein in a steady rain.

The victory gets Warren off to a 1-0 start in North Suburban Lake Division play and ups its overall record to 2-1. Mundelein, which didn't get a first down until just before halftime and scored its only touchdown in the late fourth quarter after Warren had taken out many of its starters, drops to 0-3 overall (0-1 NSC Lake).

"(The quick start) was a nice feeling," said Maguire, who averaged 19 yards per catch and also reeled in a touchdown (19 yards) midway through the second quarter. "We were a little worried with how wet it was, but we were still able to throw the ball.

"Zach and I have been playing together since second grade. It's just a good connection. We knew it last year and we were real excited for this year."

Last week against a tough Maine South team, Shaw completed 16 passes and 12 of them went to Maguire, who finished with a total of 135 yards.

"We did pretty well last year, and this year it's just gotten better," said Shaw, who completed 5-of-6 passes for 101 yards against Mundelein. "This is our coming-out party."

Of course, the Mustangs, who also gave up two rushing touchdowns to Tom Lindal (3 yards, 62 yards) and another rushing touchdown to Aaron Montgomery (1 yard), weren't exactly in a festive mood.

At halftime, Mundelein had just 1 first down and minus-6 total yards of offense. The numbers didn't improve much by the end of the game, but the Mustangs did at least make it into the end zone to avoid a second straight shutout.

Mundelein got its best field position of the day when Warren fumbled away the snap on a punt. That put the Mustangs at the Warren 24-yard line. Six plays later, Mike Matranga ran in a touchdown from 16 yards out to put Mundelein on the scoreboard with 2:49 left.

"In the second half, we played well," said first-year Mundelein coach Bob Stone. "That's what we talked about at halftime - that they had to go out and gain some self-respect after that first half.

"It wasn't just the score. They were physically just really pounding on us. And I told them that. I said it didn't matter if it was 35-0 or 0-0, they're just physically pounding you all over the field."