Aurora Central blanks Wheaton Academy

For many teams on the state football playoff bubble, the post-season has already begun.

Aurora Central is one of those teams, as a 3-4 record heading into Friday’s home finale with Wheaton Academy put the Chargers solidly in the must-win category. Central took care of business with a 42-0 win in a Suburban Christian crossover game.

The Chargers broke a three-game losing skid and have a chance to become playoff eligible with a win over Aurora Christian next week.

“You can sit back and watch our performance today and sit back and say that if we had done that the last two weeks we’d have a pretty big party going on here,” said Central coach Brian Casey. “But we are going into week nine and we are still alive, that’s a tremendous step for us and we have a chance to get a signature win for our program.”

Central didn’t get too complicated Friday, completing just one pass but running the ball 51 times for 396 yards. Quarterback Kyle Clechenko capped the Chargers’ first drive of the night with a 1-yard sneak that made it a 7-0 ballgame. Luke Dickerson and Brian Bohr later scored on runs of 23 and one yard, respectively, with Kyle Ritli getting the defense involved when he picked off a Drew Decker pass and raced 55 yards for a touchdown as the Chargers raced to a 28-0 lead.

Clechenko led the Central attack with 119 yards on 15 carries, while Steven Amoni added 113 yards — including a 58-yard touchdown scamper in the third quarter — and Dickerson 94 yards on just six carries.

“We have a lot of athletes (that can run the ball) and we knew we could get around them and run through them,” said Clechenko. “That was the plan, to just run the ball.”

The defense was also involved as it held Wheaton Academy (1-7) to just minus-1 yard on the ground and 74 overall. With the offense running the clock with the ground game, the Warriors ran just 42 plays, 23 of which resulted in incomplete passes or negative running plays.

“We thought we were better than those guys, and if you can put a team in a hole early you can kind of get that bulldozer effect,” Casey said. “That was a plus. The defense also played well.”

Central will head to Aurora Christian next week looking to possibly earn a playoff spot for the first time since 1997.

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