Lopez runs wild in historic night for Whiting

Whiting 28, Bishop Noll 7

By Paul Honeycutt

WHITING – Lots of history was made at Jeff Cain Stadium in Whiting on Friday night.

Wait. Jeff Cain Stadium? Isn’t Whiting’s football field named Ray P. Gallivan field?

As of Sept. 5, 2025, the field that saw two decades of dominance from IFCA HOF Honoree and Whiting’s all-time winningest coach Jeff Cain will now be known as Ray P. Gallivan Field at Jeff Cain Stadium.

Cain was honored at halftime along with the rest of the 2015 state finalist team and the show they saw during the game did not disappoint the Whiting faithful.

Oilers senior running back Demetrio Lopez rushed for 332 yards on 34 carries and scored all four of his team’s touchdowns in a 28-7 Greater Southshore Conference win over Bishop Noll.

“Wow, 332? We’ve been getting better and better each week,” said Lopez. “The coaches have all been talking about accountability in everything we do.”

To make this night even more special for the Oilers (1-2, 1-0 GSSC), it was the first-ever win for Whiting’s new football coach Thomas Knight, who graduated from the school in 2019 and played on the historic team from 10 years ago.

Knight said he didn’t feel any added pressure because everyone has been so supportive from the day he was hired.

“I definitely felt nervous because coach was there, but he sent me a text message when I was hired saying I should just go in and be myself,” he said. “Coach Cain instilled hard work in all of us and how to be great husbands, great fathers, and just greats people, in general.”

Lopez rushed for 156 yards in the first half and scored his first TD on a 27-yarder to begin the second quarter. 

After adding a 9-yard score at 7:10 left in the first half, Whiting senior Kasen Dunn recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and Lopez promptly scored his third of the night after that, as the Oilers took a 21-0 lead into the half.

There were 19 total penalties accepted for 170 yards, with three of them coming on long touchdown plays.

Whiting had a 68-yard interception return for a TD from Berner Garcia called back on a hold and a 43-yard TD run from Lopez negated for another hold.

Bishop Noll (1-2, 0-1) also had a 56-yard TD pass called back due to an illegal man downfield.

Warriors junior WR Jeremiah Alford ran one in from 81 yards out for Noll’s only score of the night after speeding past the Oilers defense. 

Alford rushed for 85 yards on five carries and caught three passes for 38 yards while sophomore running back Ruben Althoff caught four passes for 79 yards.

Whiting 28, Bishop Noll 7

Bishop Noll; 0 0 0 7 – 7

Whiting; 0 21 0 7 – 28

W – Demetrio Lopez 27 run (kick failed), 11:50 2nd

W – Lopez 1 run (Lopez run), 7:10 2nd

W – Lopez 9 run (Nick Ornelas kick), 4:32 2nd

BN – Jeremiah Alford 81 run (Zebediah Zukley kick), 8:02 4th

W – Lopez 5 run (Ornelas kick), 4:40 4th

Bishop Noll;Whiting

First Downs;8;18

Total Yards;238,356

Rushes-Yards;22-117;41-345

Passing;121;11

Comp.-Att.-Int.;9-17-2;1-7-1

Penalties-Yards;9-70;10-100

Fumbles-Lost;6-2;0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – BISHOP NOLL, Jeremiah Alford 5-85, Jeremiah Patton 8-19, Ruben Althoff 6-18, Mateo Franco 1-(-2), Davin Rodriguez 2–(-3). WHITING, Demetrio Lopez 34-332, Isaac Luna 2-14, Julian Madrueno 3-3, Kasen Dunn 2-0, Alex Vazquez 1-(-4).

PASSING – BISHOP NOLL, 9-17-121-0-2. WHITING, Julian Madrueno 1-6-11-0-0, Alex Vazquez 0-1-0-0-1.

RECEIVING – BISHOP NOLL, Althoff 4-79, Alford 3-38, Sammy Rosas 2-4. WHITING, Gabriel Burris 1-11.