East Aurora (0-6, 0-4 Upstate Eight Valley) @ Metea Valley (3-3, 2-2 Upstate Eight Valley), 7:30PM.
Last week: East Aurora lost to South Elgin, 71-24; Metea Valley lost at Waubonsie Valley, 38-37
Storyline: Coming a point shy of getting its first-ever victory over Waubonsie Valley, thanks to scoring the last 16 points of the game before missing an extra point following a short Bryson Oliver TD run late in the fourth quarter, Metea Valley turns its attention to winless East Aurora.
Oliver’s season-high 258 yards and four touchdowns on 44 carries against Waubonsie Valley highlighted Oliver, who has 1,158 yards and 12 touchdowns on the year, has reached the 250-yard mark on the ground three times this season and should be able to keep up his torrid pace against a East Aurora defense that has allowed at least 49 points in each of the last four weeks.
After completing over 70 percent of his passes in victories over West Aurora and South Elgin, Kyle Mooney struggled somewhat against Waubonsie Valley in going 12-of-28 passing for 157 yards with a touchdown pass to Kris King.
Mooney figures to get back on track somewhat as he and his teammates need to go 2-1 in their last three games to become playoff eligible for the first time in program history.
Meanwhile, the Tomcats, who have scored a combined 51 points in their last two games in lopsided losses to Neuqua Valley and South Elgin, have gotten a pair of TD passes from Michael Gonzalez to Maurice Nichols in both games.
Nate Booker has touchdown runs in four consecutive games for East Aurora.
Metea Valley coach Ben Kleinhans on East Aurora: “We’re just looking at it (as a way) to get back at it. Each time you lose, you’re just frustrated. You want to get back on the field and go out and play well. This game, you need to go out and play well. You need to do what you need to do to come away with a win. It’s our Homecoming, so you set aside the distractions that come with that and just go out and play our best football game Friday night, just like we would on any Friday night.
“(The Tomcats) have gotten better every single year since (Kurt Becker) has been there. He’s put a good roster (together) and the numbers are up. The numbers are up. There are some kids that are excited about playing football over there because of the work (Becker) and his coaching staff has done. … They never quit. They just keep playing (and) keep playing hard. They’ve had some injuries, I think, and stuff like that over the season.
“They may not have the depth that some other teams do, but those kids just keep fighting and keep playing with passion. … They always play us tough. They’re not far away from our school. We’re located pretty close to each other, so it’s a little bit of a rivalry. … I’m looking forward to them coming out and getting after us early. It’s going to be a game that you can’t overlook. We got to go play.”
