No. 11 Neuqua Valley (3-1, 3-1 DuPage Valley) @ Bartlett (1-3, 1-1 Upstate Eight Valley), 7:30 p.m.
Last week: Bartlett lost at South Elgin, 27-19; Neuqua Valley won at Wheaton Warrenville South, 28-14
Storyline: Winners of two straight games, Neuqua Valley enters its bye week from DuPage Valley Conference play at 3-1 overall.
A pair of victories at home against Waubonsie Valley and at Wheaton Warrenville South has the Wildcats as one of five DVC teams with one conference loss as they head to play an old Upstate Eight Valley rival, Bartlett.
A week ago, Jack Stankoven’s two TD passes to Owen Piche and Nick Osikowicz’s third multi-TD game of the season helped propel the Wildcats to a 28-14 victory in their first-ever trip to Red Grange Field in Wheaton.
Stankoven threw for 240 yards, misfiring on only nine passes, and connected with three different receivers – Piche, Isaiah Robertson and Brett Borske – four times apiece.
Rodney Jones’ defense limited the Tigers to 177 total yards while Robert Beavers recovered a fumble. In four games, Neuqua Valley’s defense is holding opponents to 12.2 points a game and an average of 212 total yards a game.
Bartlett’s only victory of the season came in Week 3 when it beat West Aurora, 27-7.
Quarterback Brenner Wallace threw a pair of TD passes against the Blackhawks for the Hawks in that win and has eight total touchdowns on the season.
Neuqua Valley coach Bill Ellinghaus on Bartlett: “We’ve had a lot of dogfights against Bartlett, year after year after year. So they do a nice job up there. It’s different playing up there. It’s a different feel to it – at Millennium Field. We’ve been playing there. We’re certainly comfortable playing there. We know the situation up there. We know Bartlett very well, but it’s been a dogfight against Bartlett. They came in, I think, the same year we did (to the Upstate Eight). We’ve had some great football games against Bartlett and I expect this to be no different.
“I don’t think that just because they’re 1-3, what that means for me – 1-3 – is that their backs are against the wall and they’re going to do everything they can to win because they need this win to try to get themselves into the playoffs. That’s what we’ve told our kids. They’re going to do everything they can to win this football game. Not that you don’t every week, but I expect them to throw everything at us.”
“It doesn’t appear to be much different (offensively). They’ll give you different formation. They’ll try to formation you a little bit and they’ll throw the football. Their quarterback (Wallace) does a real nice job. They also have that running back (Nolan Bernat) that’s been there for three years, has been a starter there for three years and he’s fast. He’s had success for three years up there. Their quarterback and running back will be two kids that we got to make sure we contain.”
