Stay Connected with YourSeason
Wabonsie Valley overwhelms Metea
Updated: September 24, 2011 1:03AM
Last year, in the first meeting between fledgling Metea Valley and Waubonsie Valley on the football field, Waubonsie was lucky to escape.
The Warriors picked up a win by a mere point in that game.
In Friday’s second installment, however, they left nothing to chance.
Propelled by a three-touchdown stretch in 36 seconds in the final minute of the first half, Waubonsie routed Metea 51-0 in Upstate Eight Valley play.
“We wanted to attack them,” Waubonsie coach Paul Murphy said. “Last year, we were passive. We didn’t attack, we turned the ball over, we had penalties. We let them stay in the game because we were inept. Nothing taken away from them, but we didn’t play to our capabilities last year.”
Waubonsie (4-1 overall, 2-1 UEC Valley) set the tone early, forcing a fumble on Metea’s first possession, just as the Mustangs (3-2, 1-2) drove into Warriors territory for the only time all night. Eight plays later, Austin Guido (17 carries, 101 yards) scored from two yards out to open a 7-0 lead.
His one-yard plunge with 58 seconds in the half appeared to have Waubonsie poised to go into the half with a 17-0 lead.
“Our line was doing great,” Guido said. “They opened up everything for me and I just ran from there.”
But Metea ran two plays the rest of the half; both fumbles by sophomore backup quarterback Peyton Mitchell, who was playing for the injured Jarrett House.
Hugh Griffin scooped the first one up for a 3-yard touchdown. The second one set up an 8-yard touchdown strike from Dylan Warden to Dee Gray, and suddenly it was 31-0 going into the half.
“Our sideline was going crazy,” Guido said. “Everyone was just loving it, having a great time, but we kept the intensity up.”
Waubonsie started the second half off with a 60-yard touchdown pass from Warden to Austin Ameri on its first drive and capped the scoring off with a 15-yard fumble return from Mark Iwasyk off another botched snap to Mitchell.
“We spent all week working with him on it,” Metea coach Ted Monken said of Mitchell, who spent most of his time at receiver before House was injured. “Under the pressure of the game, he just didn’t do as well as we had hoped. But to sit here and blame Peyton Mitchell would be wrong. There were 11 guys out there every play and he didn’t fumble every snap.”
Murphy couldn’t have gotten a much more dominant performance from his defense. All told, the Mustangs had only four yards of total offense, four first downs and turned the ball over five times. Two of those were returned for touchdowns by the defense, and the other three resulted in scores. Zac Steele also blocked a punt deep in Metea’s zone.
“As things start snowballing, our defense becomes like a piranha,” Murphy said. “They smell the kill. That’s nice to have, because we haven’t had that since I’ve been here.”
Metea gets no rest after being dominated by South Elgin and Waubonsie in consecutive weeks with Neuqua Valley looming on the road next Friday.
“We were hoping we wouldn’t take such a big step backward,” Monken said. “Obviously, we have a long way to go. In the building process, I guess we’re still framing the house here. We’re definitely not putting any shingles on yet.”
© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.
Cell Phone Alerts
Comments Click here to view or make a comment