Metea Valley quarterback Conner Lovely knew full well what he couldn’t do against Waubonsie Valley’s defense.
Turn it over.
A Trevon Moore interception of Lovely inside the Waubonsie Valley five-yard line in the waning seconds of the first half may have dampened the Mustangs’ spirits a bit.
But it didn’t dampen their collective resolve as Lovely rebounded – courtesy of a nine-yard TD run in the fourth quarter – as Metea Valley beat Waubonsie Valley, 19-7, for the first time in program history Friday night at North Central College.
“It feels great,” Lovely said. “Waubonsie’s a great program and it feels great to beat them in the power run game and stopping their power run game. It’s something that we’ve been looking to do this whole year and we really accomplished that.”
After a pair of losses at the hands of the Warriors a year ago by a combined eight points, the Mustangs improved to 1-6 all-time against the Warriors.
“It was important,” Metea Valley coach Ben Kleinhans said. “We’ve been there and close with them. … It’s tough to do something the first time. It’s tough to beat Waubonsie and the first time is the hardest time to do it. Last year, we walked off that field – both those games – thinking, ‘We had them. We could have won that game’ and just came up a couple plays short.
“(Friday), the kids weren’t going to let that happen. We got the lead and we were going to hold the lead and finish it off.”
Amiri Finner’s 18-yard TD run got Metea Valley (2-3, 2-3) on the board first seven seconds into the second quarter, breaking a scoreless tie.
After Waubonsie Valley (3-2, 3-2) and Max Ihry successfully countered with a 69-yard scoring drive that Ihry ended with a one-yard TD run, Finner took matters into his own hands.
Finner immediately answered Ihry with a 92-yard kickoff return for a TD that put the Mustangs up 13-7 on the Warriors with 5:13 left in the first half.
“Amiri really sparked our offensive run,” Lovely said of Finner. “Without a doubt, player of the night. Had some amazing defensive plays, as well as the kickoff return for a touchdown and the end-around for a touchdown. He was – without a doubt – one of the best players on the field.”
While the Mustangs, who came into Friday with 10 turnovers, only turned the ball over once, Reggie Hill came up big twice from out of the secondary.
Hill picked off Waubonsie Valley quarterback Jack Connolly in the end zone late in the third while the Mustangs were holding on to a 13-7 lead and knocked away a pass in the end zone late in regulation.
“We made a couple adjustments with our D-line at different times,” Klenhans said. “There were hurting us with some things and (defensive coordinator Matt) Fehrmann and his staff made a couple minor adjustments. Nothing big. Our kids made tackles and made stops.”
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