West Aurora (1-5, 1-3 Upstate Eight Valley) @ No. 7 Waubonsie Valley (6-0, 4-0 Upstate Eight Valley), 7:30PM.
Last week: West Aurora lost to Neuqua Valley, 48-35; Waubonsie Valley beat Metea Valley, 38-37
Storyline: Living very dangerously in each of the last two weeks in pulling out one-point victories against Glenbard East and Metea Valley, respectively, Waubonsie Valley is officially in the Class 8A postseason field for an eighth straight year under Paul Murphy and for the ninth time in 10 seasons overall under Murphy’s tutelage.
Tony Durns ran for 172 yards and four touchdowns on 23 carries to highlight the Warriors’ 38-point night against the Mustangs as they won despite giving up a season-high 37 points on defense.
Just like the week prior against Glenbard East, the Warriors benefited from a special teams miscue as the Mustangs missed a potential game-tying extra point following a Bryson Oliver TD run late in the fourth that helped preserve the victory as the Mustangs scored the game’s final 16 points.
Over the course of the last two weeks, in the slim victories over Glenbard East and Metea Valley, the Waubonsie Valley defense has given up an average of 32 points, a stark contrast from the 9.75 points a game it permitted its first four opponents to start the season.
Meanwhile, West Aurora scored a season-high 35 points in its 48-35 loss to Neuqua Valley last week as it piled up 342 total yards of offense.
Against the Wildcats, junior Drake Spears had a pair of touchdowns for the Blackhawks, a 85-yard kickoff return and a 17-yard TD reception, while Johnathon Doyle hit six receivers amidst topping the 200-yard mark passing.
Murphy on West Aurora: “They’ve got some good skill players on offense and I think they’re more healthy than earlier in the year and they’re now healthy and they’re coming back. Defensively, they’re very, very young. They’re playing a lot of sophomores and juniors on defense, so we got to put points on the board and take the pressure off our defense and try to make them one-dimensional.
“That’s the one thing we haven’t done the last two weeks with our defense. We haven’t made teams one-dimensional. They’ve been able to run and throw, which makes you stay more balanced on defense versus forcing them to do one thing or the other.
“To me, they’re a former DVC team that’s going to come in here with a DVC mentality, which means they’re going to be ready to play for 48 minutes and we’ve got to be ready to play for 48 minutes. Skill-wise, they’ve got skill players like we’ve got skill players and it’s a matter of playing sound, fundamental football and getting the job done.”
