West Aurora christens new field with a win

After starting the season on the road at East Aurora last week, West Aurora ushered in a new era at Ken Zimmerman Field Friday. A 20-7 win over St. Charles East not only christened the new Field Turf playing surface, but gave new coach and West Aurora graduate Nate Eimer his first home win.

Like a race car on a newly-paved track, the Blackhawks (2-0) flashed their speed on both sides of the ball, scoring twice on big plays on offense while swarming to the ball on the defensive end in holding the Saints to just 152 yards.

“Just like last week (a 48-6 win), our defense was at a championship level,” Eimer said. “(Defensive) coach (Tony) Melchiori does a great job getting those guys ready. They were phenomenal and they carried us.”

It was the defense that got West on the board just 70 seconds into the game. After Alexander Pope dropped a punt that was downed on the Saints’ 1-yard line, senior linebacker Brandon Warren broke through on a blitz and stripped the ball from quarterback Dean Bowen, then pounced on the loose ball for the score and a 6-0 lead.

“The gap just opened up and the ball came out and I jumped on it,” Warren said. “It was maybe a foot from the end line. I was happy to score the first touchdown on the new field, especially on defense because I don’t touch the ball much on offense.”

West added two more scores in the first half, first on a 25-yard scamper by speedy Nate Zinzer, and another on a fourth-down, 36-yard scoring strike from quarterback Quintez Jones — who only attempted two passes — to Anthony Oros with just over four minutes to go until the break.

East (0-2) picked up its only score of the game on the ensuing kickoff when nose tackle Nick Devor, a state qualifier in the hurdles last spring, flashed his speed to the tune of a 98-yard kickoff return.

That proved to be the only offense the Saints could muster, though, as they struggled to find consistency on offense. Carter Reading led the offense with 62 yards rushing and caught a pass for 28 yards, but quarterbacks Bowen and Charlie Fisher combined to complete just 4 of 15 passes for 53 yards.

Still, they more than doubled their offensive output of 65 yards in a 28-0 loss to Cary-Grove in Week 1.

“I thought we took a lot of steps forward, even though the score isn’t indicative of that,” East coach Mike Fields said. “There are some things we have to fix with mental errors. We shot ourselves in the foot and it shows we are a young team.”

West finished with 297 yards of offense but hurt itself with three turnovers and several key penalties. Shon Enoch carried the ball 21 times for 139 yards to lead the offense, while Zinzer had a combined 72 yards rushing and receiving.

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