Jack Connolly had called it “a work in progress.”
Waubonsie Valley coach Paul Murphy was constantly stressing to his defense the need to pick it up until the offense found its way.
Three weeks into the season, Waubonsie Valley’s triple option hadn’t really looked like the offensive attack that has served Murphy’s 10-plus seasons there.
The insertion of sophomore Tanner Westwood in the second half of Saturday’s 15-14 upset of Naperville Central may have changed all that.
Westwood, making his varsity debut after operating as the JV quarterback for the first three weeks, ran three times for 43 yards but showed off his arm at the most opportune time for the Warriors.
With under three minutes to play and Waubonsie Valley down 14-7, Westwood’s 58-yard halfback pass to Jake Schroeder helped sustain the momentum it had gleaned from the previous drive, which ended with a 36-yard Max Ihry TD run.
“The first play I was nervous, but (Connolly) pitched me the ball and I got the ball and I ended up breaking a tackle,” Westwood said. “As I got up off the ground, I was looking around to see what was going on because I couldn’t process it at first because I was like, ‘what did I just do?’ I ended up getting the first down on that play and I was just in shock that I could do that at this level.
“I’ve never played in a game this big, especially playing against a fifth-ranked Naperville Central team who played their butts off all game. Defensively, they haven’t let up a lot of points all season and I’m still in shock right now. I don’t really know what I just did.”
Four plays later, Ihry ended a 80-yard scoring drive with a TD run while Connolly was in the end zone running for a two-point conversion and a 15-14 Warrior lead seconds after that
While Ihry accounted for both of the Warriors’ touchdowns against the Redhawks, the dimension Westwood added to the offense undoubtedly provided the impetus for an improbable comeback from down 14-0.
Aside from creating a five-way tie in the loss column atop the DuPage Valley Conference, Murphy was quite aware of what else was created with the one-point win: confidence.
“It’s when you can get all three phases of the triple option working, now you become dangerous,” Murphy said. “I thought in the second half – when we got Tanner Westwood out there – we became dangerous in the option because now we got all three phases and that’s what we’ve been missing. For three weeks. we’ve had one phase or two phases, but we haven’t had all three. Now we got a third phase finally and now let’s see where we can go now that we got some confidence.”
D’Angelo steps up: Benet junior quarterback Jack Sznajder paid the ultimate complement to a fellow junior, John D’Angelo.
“He’s a hard worker,” Sznajder said of D’Angelo. “He’s determined and he wants to be the best. He does what it takes to win.”
What else would you expect from someone who has committed to play lacrosse at the Air Force Academy in the fall of 2017?
D’Angelo took last year off of football but has made his presence known for Benet’s defense four weeks into the season.
His stop on Saturday of St. Patrick running back Niko Childress on a potential game-tying two-point conversion helped save a 30-28 Redwing victory after trailing 15-3 earlier in the game.
“He really brings athleticism to the defensive side of the team,” Benet coach Pat New said of D’Angelo. “The play he made on the two-point conversion was just huge. That was an awesome play. But he just brings a deal of athleticism to the defensive end position, which is key.
“We really need that. When you got these scrambling quarterbacks who can run, you really need guys who can run on defense. That’s what John really brings.”
D’Angelo has 25 tackles and two sacks for Tim Cederblad’s defense entering this week’s game against Marist.
“I think he’s got a lot of upside because I think he was a little bit rusty coming back and playing football initially, being off for a year,” New said. “But I think – from a positive standpoint – that upside is kind of exciting because he can improve as the season goes along.”
Borske breaks out: Jack Stankoven knew it. So did Bill Ellinghaus.
Eventually, Brett Borske had to get his hands on the ball for the Neuqua Valley offense.
Through two games, with a rolled MCL partially to blame, the Western Michigan-bound tight end had been shut out offensively.
“I wish he did have some catches,” Ellinghaus said of Borske after the Wildcats lost at Naperville Central in Week 2. “We’ve called plenty of pass plays to our tight end, but when we drop back and pass and one thing is we don’t have time to throw the ball to him or he’s been double covered at times. They’ve been playing man-to-man on him at times.
“He’s been bracketed at least once. We’ve called seven or eight different pass plays – I guess you could call them designed to go to the tight end – and not one of them has panned out. We’ve targeted three times and he still doesn’t have a catch. But his catches will come.”
Borske got off the schneid with a pair of catches for 15 yards during Neuqua Valley’s 28-7 victory over Waubonsie Valley in Week 3, but he and Stankoven finally found a groove one week later.
Borske’s four receptions for 113 yards during the Wildcats’ 28-14 victory at Wheaton Warrenville South marked a game high in yards as he provided Stankoven, who threw for 240 yards and two TDs, a security blanket
“It was a huge relief,” Borske wrote in a text. “I was waiting for a breakout game like that and a lot more plays came my way (against the Tigers) and made the most of my opportunities.”
