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Waubonsie Valley’s defense too stingy for South Elgin
Updated: October 22, 2011 12:20AM
Waubonsie Valley’s defense was nasty as usual Friday night as the Warriors put the finishing touches on their finest regular season since 1997.
In a contest visiting South Elgin needed to win to become playoff eligible for the third straight year, the Storm’s vaunted ground attack had no room to run as Waubonsie Valley rolled to a 32-8 Upstate Eight Valley victory.
The Warriors got 152 yards and a pair of touchdowns from senior Austin Guido, but the defense stole the show by holding South Elgin (4-5, 3-3) to only 27 rushing yards on 26 carries. This came after the Storm racked up over 400 rushing yards in an upset win against Geneva last week.
“We pinched our linemen in so (South Elgin) had to bounce it out,” junior linebacker Austin Lacke said. “We left it up to our outside linebackers to make the tackle. They did and we stopped the run.”
For Waubonsie Valley (8-1, 5-1), the victory likely secures a home game in the first round of the playoffs and also gives the Warriors eight wins in the regular season for the first time in 14 years.
The outcome marked the sixth time this season Waubonsie Valley held an opponent to fewer than 10 points, and it could have been a shutout had linebacker Tommy Wooten not been flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after sacking South Elgin quarterback Zach Gross on a third down play in the fourth quarter. The Storm used the new life and scored its only points three plays later when Gross found Tommy Asa for a 4-yard touchdown reception to make the score 24-8 with 4:21 left.
“That defense was about as solid as we’ve seen all year long,” South Elgin coach Dale Schabert said. “They are coming downhill a lot, they are aggressive and in that defensive scheme they had guys coming from all over the place.”
Not much separated the teams in the first half as Waubonsie Valley used a 20-yard field goal from Tyler Mellecker and a nifty 28-yard touchdown reception from Demitrius Gray to go into the break with a 10-0 lead.
The Warriors took command on the opening drive of third quarter when quarterback Dylan Warden scored on a 6-yard run to cap a six-play, 80-yard drive. It was more of the same later in the quarter when Guido rumbled in for a 3-yard score to make it 24-0.
“We’ve got to get in the mentality that every game is going to go for 48 minutes,” Waubonsie Valley coach Paul Murphy said. “In the second half we woke up because I chewed their butts at halftime. We were out there thinking it was going to be a piece of cake, but we were playing a team playing for the playoffs. (South Elgin) is a good football team.”
Guido capped the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown run in the waning seconds. He added his team’s second successful two-point conversion of the half after Mellecker left in the first half with a quad injury.
Gray finished with four catches for 94 yards for Waubonsie Valley, which got interceptions on defense from Jim Delaney and Malik Spikener. South Elgin’s Adolfo Pacheco finished with 50 yards on 13 carries one week after piling up 318 yards on the ground against Geneva.
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