Nothing gets rid of the sour taste of a lopsided loss quite like offensive efficiency.

Maine South junior quarterback Jameson Purcell, an Indiana commit, was stuck on automatic as the visiting Hawks pulled away in the second half to beat Warren 42-14 in Gurnee on Friday.

The Hawks opened the season last week with a tough one against state power Lincoln-Way East. It was the type of loss seldom seen at Maine South.

“Shutout and running clock hasn’t happened too many times,” Hawks coach David Inserra said. “Obviously, we had the boys’ attention, but most importantly, they responded. They focused, They didn’t get down, long season.”

Purcell hit peak efficiency in the middle part of the game, completing 14-of-15 throws for 177 yards during one stretch of the second and third quarters. Overall, Purcell hit 23-of-34 attempts for 243 yards and three touchdowns.

The passing game opened things up for running back Niko Kokosioulis, who came alive in the second half and finished with 108 rushing yards on 17 carries. Maine South’s top receivers were Finn Haugh with six catches for 97 yards, and Logan Ide with four for 49.

“That’s a great thing about Maine South,” Purcell said. “We all live in Park Ridge, we’ve all been growing up with each other since we were born. So I think that’s a really special thing. We’ve got so much depth and so many great players we can plug and play wherever we want.”

Even with all the offense, a defensive stop actually got Maine South rolling. Trailing 21-14 at halftime, Warren took the third quarter kickoff and drove to a second-and-1 at midfield.

On the next play, quarterback Reed Dangel was dropped for a 3-yard loss. Then on third down, junior Matt Schlenhardt came off the edge to drop Aaron Stewart for a 2-yard loss and the Blue Devils had to punt.

Stewart was coming off a record-setting 438-yard performance against Hersey last week. He obviously caught the attention of the Maine South defense, finishing with 71 rushing yards on 17 carries in this game, while adding a 48-yard reception.

“We had a goal of keeping him under 150,” Inserra said. “We thought we could win a game if we kept him under 150. He is a heck of a player. We saw the best quarterback in the state last week (Jonas Williams), we see the best running back in the state tonight.

Maine South was throwing from the start as Purcell completed 6-of-9 attempts on an opening 12-play, 68-yard scoring drive. Purcell’s 5-yard pass to Jake Davis put the first touchdown on the board.

Warren wasted no time evening the score as Corvel Hodges answered with a 96-yard kickoff return touchdown.

The Hawks mixed in a few more runs on their second drive, with Purcell hitting Ide for a 2-yard TD pass to make it 14-7 before Warren had even run an offensive play.

Maine South’s defense dropped Stewart for losses a couple times on run blitzes, but he caught a short pass and broke loose for a 48-yard gain to set up his 2-yard touchdown run that tied the score early.

Just before halftime, Purcell went 5-for-5 through the air on a 61-yard drive and scored on a 1-yard run with 2:41 left in the second quarter to make it 21-14.

Warren coach Bryan McNulty could relate to what Inserra went through last week.

“Sometimes when you do it long enough, you have those nights where nothing’s going to go right,” McNulty said. “Hats off to Maine South. They’re like us, they play tough competition. You can’t make the mistakes we made against a Maine South.”