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Waukegan holds on against Niles West
Waukegan's Reginald Richter (10) runs as Niles West's sJames Wiliams (27) bears down on him during Waukegan's homecoming game on Saturday, Sept. 24th. | Dan Luedert~Sun-Times Media
Updated: September 25, 2011 2:26PM
Waukegan raced out to a four-touchdown lead, then held off visiting Niles West to make it a happy Homecoming for the Bulldogs as they prevailed 27-13 on Saturday afternoon in the Central Suburban League South opener for both teams.
Waukegan (3-2 overall) has now matched last year’s win total and needs two wins in its final four games to make the playoffs for the first time in a decade. Niles West is 2-3. The final score was the same as when the teams met in the season finale last fall.
The Bulldogs won despite committing five turnovers, having a defensive touchdown erased by a roughing-the-passer penalty, and failing to cover a Niles West onside kick.
“In the big scheme of things, a win is a win, but it’s difficult because there’s just so much we need to work on,” said Waukegan coach Nick Browder, whose team now must face Evanston, Glenbrook South, New Trier and Maine South back-to-back-to-back-to-back and find a way to win two of the games.
“We matched what we did last year, but the goal is to get better. We want to be better than we were last year,” he said. “Our conference is a very competitive conference, so the wins are going to be tough to come by.”
Saturday’s win wasn’t so tough, but the Waukegan performance was still uneven.
On the opening possession, Waukegan marched 76 yards in eight plays to take the lead just 2:59 into the game on a 5-yard Maurice Childs run.
after the teams exchanged three-and-outs, Niles West’s Jeremiah Jordan had a 72-yard punt return to the house called back on a hold.
Waukegan’s Reggie Richter later completed a 21-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Williams up the seem for a 14-0 lead with 3:54 left in the half.
Five seconds later, Waukegan’s Trenton Charles recovered a bad snap on the Niles West 15, but after two runs were stuffed, Reggie Richter was picked off by Jake Glotzer at the 3 to keep the Wolves within two scores at the half.
On Niles West’s first offensive play of the second half, linebacker Quintin Davis picked off a Mike McGivern pass and took it 19 yards untouched to put Waukegan up 21-0 just 18 seconds after the break.
Davis had an identical-looking pick-six on the opposite side of the field called back just before halftime on a Waukegan roughing-the-passer penalty.
“I’m happy for him,” said Browder. “He got the pick before half and he said, ‘Coach I got that pick.’ I said, ‘Is it in the books? It’s cute, but it didn’t count.’
“So, I was happy for him to come out and get one in the second half.”
Waukegan scored for the final time on a 5-yard toss sweep to Childs, who went in untouched with 2:32 left in the third quarter. On that drive, Richter was picked off on a third-and-eight by Nick Johnson on the Wolves’ 31, but after taking off up the field, Johnson fumbled the ball back to Waukegan’s Jesse Rivera on the Niles West 41.
Childs’ two touchdowns were the first rushing TDs by Waukegan this season. RIchter has 12 TD passes and the defense and special-teams units also have scored.
The defense was very sharp on Saturday.
“You look for that. We hope we can get that out of our defense. We’ve been giving up points this year. We’ve been getting hit on the edge, so we worked on that this week and I think we played it a lot better,” Browder said. “Our kids can do it, but sometimes you have to explain why and show them on film what happens when they don’t do it. It’s on us as coaches to do a better job, because we have the kids that can do it.”
Niles West’s first score was set up by Anthony Underwood’s fumble recovery at the Waukegan 25 with 2:58 left to play. James Williams scored on a 3-yard run up the middle.
Niles West recovered the ensuing onside kick and set up the final score with a 31-yard reception by Jeremiah Jordan on a jump ball down the sideline. Nick Johnson ran it up the middle from seven yards out for the touchdown.
Next up for Waukegan is a game at Evanston.
“For whatever reason, our games with them are always competitive, just because of the familiarity between the kids,” Browder said. “Evanston’s kids come out and believe they should win, and our kids come out believing that they should win, so those are the fun games, when both teams come out and expect to win.
“You let them play, then we’ll see how things unfold.”
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