Yorkville pulls away from East Aurora

Updated: September 3, 2011 2:30AM

It was a tale of two halves at East Aurora on Friday.

The Tomcats showed some offense in the first half behind running back Cortez Cummings as East trailed Yorkville 14-0 at intermission.

But the Foxes’ offensive line strength and the pounding runs of Neil O’Brien (18 carries, 139 yards) took their toll as Yorkville (2-0) pulled away for a 42-6 victory.

The Foxes’ first half scores came on a 3-yard run by quarterback Nick Gillette and a 19-yard scoring reception by Ilir Emini.

“Cody Knudsen scooted in a little bit because his route was in the center of the field,” Emini said about the TD strike. “I did a wheel route so I’d be more by myself in the end zone and wouldn’t be guarded by two players.”

Cummings had 39 yards on seven carries in the half for East, but O’Brien bested that by going for 70 on 11 carries for the visitors.

The Tomcats opened up quickly after intermission as sophomore Desmond Gant scooped up a fumble on Yorkville’s second play and returned it 56 yards for a score to cut the margin to 14-6.

“At first I thought the runner was down and then I saw the ball pop out,” Gant said. “I picked it up and stopped because I thought I heard the whistle. But then I just kept running and fortunately I made it.”

It was as close as East would get.

O’Brien finished a two-play drive by racing in from 51 yards.

The Foxes then quickly drove 78 yards, and finished with another Gillette to Emini scoring pass, this time from 24 yards.

Josh Gengler then recovered an East fumble at the Tomcat 19, and one minute later Gillette hit Garrett Knox for a score from five yards away. The Foxes finished the third quarter with a 35-6 lead.

Running back Anton Jones (7 carries, 64 yards, all in the second half) finished the Yorkville scoring in the fourth quarter with a two-yard touchdown run.

“We just had to come out hard again and show them what we’re made of,” O’Brien said of the Foxes’ running game, which also saw Dan Scott carry seven times for 75 yards. “The line is doing what they need to. We’re pretty much nothing without them.”

Yorkville pounded for 307 rushing yards on 38 carries. Gillette was 4-for-4 passing for 58 yards and three scores.

The always optimistic East coach Bill Bryant did like some of the work by the Tomcat defense, and especially praised Javier Rodriguez.

“He played one heck of a game,” Bryant said. “He’s 5-feet-7 inches and 165 pounds, and I don’t know how many tackles he had for loss tonight, but it was a lot. It was just fantastic effort on his part.”

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