Metea Valley (4-3, 3-2 Upstate Eight Valley) @ Glenbard East (3-4, 1-4 Upstate Eight Valley), 7:30PM.
Last week: Metea Valley beat East Aurora, 48-6; Glenbard East lost at South Elgin, 42-36
Storyline: Playoff eligibility for the first time in the program’s history awaits Metea Valley tonight with a victory over Glenbard East in Lombard.
The Mustangs took out some of their frustrations stemming from their 38-37 loss at Waubonsie Valley the week before by putting up a season-high 48 points on the board to celebrate Homecoming with a 48-6 rout of East Aurora last Friday.
Against the Tomcats, senior quarterback Kyle Mooney tossed four touchdown passes, including a pair to Kris King, to help take some pressure off of workhorse running back Bryson Oliver, who managed to get them on the board first with a first-quarter TD run as Metea Valley pieced together a 48-point first half.
Replicating the feat he first accomplished at South Elgin in a 44-27 Mustangs’ victory on Sept. 27, Mooney’s four-touchdown effort against East Aurora gave him 15 touchdowns on the season to go with just two interceptions.
Meanwhile, Glenbard East must win out to become playoff eligible at 5-4 in its first year in the Upstate Eight Valley, with games against Metea Valley and at West Aurora, a 27-24 upset victor at Waubonsie Valley last week, remaining.
The Rams have lost three straight games by a combined 10 points and have scored an average of 27.7 points during the three-game losing streak.
Since coming a point shy of upsetting Waubonsie Valley in overtime on Sept. 26, the Rams fell in overtime at Bartlett the next week before putting up 36 points in a six-point loss at South Elgin last Saturday.
Senior running back Dominic Wilberton ran for 158 yards and three TDs in the loss to the Storm last week while junior QB Phil Abruzino threw for 288 yards and a pair of touchdown passes for Glenbard East.
Metea Valley coach Ben Kleinhans on Glenbard East: “There’s a lot of built-in motivation. It’s going to a great challenge for us. Glenbard East is a good football team that they’re 3-4 but very easily could be 6-1. Lost two overtime games and lost last week (at South Elgin) by one score and they very easily, if a couple plays would have gone differently in any of those games, then their record would be different. So it’s gonna be (a challenge) and they’re a good football team.
“They’re kind of in that must-win game for them, two games left and they have three wins. It’s their last home game, Senior Night. They have to get a win to keep their playoff hopes alive and their winning season hopes alive. So we got a huge challenge for us going up there on the road. We’re going to need to play our best football game on Friday night. There’s no doubt about it.
“(Wilberton) runs the ball very well. Their quarterback (Abruzino), he gets hot and he gets in rhythm with his receivers. He does a really good job and he’s a run threat, as well. So their offense really makes you defend the whole field. Then they’re very physical on both lines and they’re pretty good at stopping the run, so we’re going to have our work cut out for us.”
