South Elgin (5-3, 4-2 Upstate Eight Valley) @ No. 20 Waubonsie Valley (7-1, 5-1 Upstate Eight Valley), 7:30PM.
Last week: South Elgin won at Bartlett, 21-7; Waubonsie Valley beat Neuqua Valley, 35-28
Storyline: Fresh off beating Neuqua Valley for the first time since 2011, Waubonsie Valley can ensure itself at least a share of the Upstate Eight Valley title with a victory over South Elgin Friday night.
Zack Bennema’s five touchdowns, three via the air and two on the ground, led the way for the Warriors against the Wildcats as his 32-yard TD pass to Keaton Casey with 1:18 left in regulation put them back in front to stay at 35-28.
Despite not forcing a turnover against Neuqua Valley, Waubonsie Valley did enough to keep Broc Rutter and the Neuqua Valley out of sync at opportune times.
A victory over South Elgin would very likely mean the Warriors, at 8-1, would begin the Class 8A postseason next week at home.
Meanwhile, the Storm will be looking to officially clinch a postseason spot with a victory.
Winning at Bartlett last week despite gaining a season low 292 total yards, South Elgin got 21 second-half points to come away with the much-needed victory, becoming playoff eligible.
Kyle Ware had all three Storm TDs in the second half as he rushed for 124 yards while its defense picked off three Bartlett passes.
Waubonsie Valley coach Paul Murphy on South Elgin: “They’ve got a high powered offense that scores over 42 points a game. Obviously, they’re 5-3. So they’re a playoff-eligible team and it’s going to be a playoff atmosphere. There are no easy games this time of year and we want to get moving into the playoffs on an upswing.”
“I think you’re going to see a more balanced offense (from the Storm than in the past). Obviously, I think the key to the game is our offense just controlling the ball and keeping it from their offense and the fewer touches they have, the better for us.”
“They threw it to multiple different receivers and they have different running backs and they’re going to pose a very diverse offense against us.”
“They’re a 4-4 (defense). Are they going to fly around and they’re going to load up the box to try to stop the run and force us to pass or are they going to play a little looser after they saw our results against Neuqua last week? The key to our game last week was being able to pass the ball down the field, so hopefully that’ll give defenses something else to worry about besides our running game.”
