If there truly were a battle for Hinsdale Central’s starting quarterback job, Friday night’s season opener would not have helped to resolve it.
Michael Sessa and Josh Bean both took turns guiding the Red Devils offense against O’Fallon, and both threw two touchdowns as Hinsdale Central rolled to a 41-14 victory in Hinsdale.
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The Red Devils (1-0) are going to continue to use both quarterbacks going forward.
“We are going to play them both, just like we did tonight,” Red Devils coach Dan Hartman said. “We decided (to rotate) a couple of weeks ago. They both had really good summers at different times. We were torn between both of them.
“They both can run, but Josh might run a little bit better. They both can throw, but Mike night throw a little bit better. So we decided we were going to roll the dice and go with both of them.”
The decision was ultimately sealed by how the team responded no matter who was calling the signals.
“They get along well, so it is not like they are pulling the team apart,” Hartman said. “When we saw that, that the team was going to be behind whoever was out there, then that was the signal that we were going to go with two (quarterbacks).”
Sessa, a senior, started against O’Fallon (0-1) and engineered back-to-back scoring drives to begin the game, including a 37-yard scoring strike to Kareem Muhammad on the first play of the second series.
He also drove Hinsdale Central to a score on its opening march of the second half, throwing a 9-yard TD pass to Matt Cherry.
Sessa (10-of-22, 179 yards) is comfortable sharing snaps with Bean, a junior.
“We are both pretty even,” Sessa said. “We rotate in practice, so we get an even number of repetitions. I feel like we are pretty much the same.
“The playbook is not switched up when I am in, or when Josh is in. We can both do similar things.”
Bean (5-of-12, 80 yards) entered the game toward the end of the first quarter and helped Hinsdale Central take a 21-0 halftime lead when he connected with Cherry for a 12-yard TD midway through the second quarter.
He also tossed a 3-yard TD to John Kwasigroch at the start of the fourth quarter.
“I think it (rotating) worked out really well,” Bean said. “It shows by putting up 41 points — that is one of our goals to get in the 40s. It was a great game.
“We compete with each other, but that just really gets us better. At one point, we just realized that we were both going to be needed on this team.”
The Red Devils defense was also impressive against the Panthers, limiting Illinois-bound running back Kentrail Moran to just 27 yards on 10 carries in the first half.
“The defense did an awesome job against that back; Moran is a phenomenal player, Hartman said. “That was a great early test; the defense rallied.”
Patrick Kelly is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press