His varsity debut with Waubonsie Valley on the horizon, Bryce Logan was going a mile a minute all day Friday.
But as Friday afternoon turned into Friday night, the sophomore sure didn’t give off that vibe.
Two touchdown runs later during the DuPage Valley Conference opener against Lake Park, one could see why.
“I was a little surprised,” Logan said. “I was like, ‘Wow! You’re actually performing to varsity level caliber.’ It could be better, of course. But it’s only the first game. Overall, I think I expected more hard hits, a lot faster pace. It was faster compared to my freshman games and little bit of sophomore that I played. I think I could pick up on the pace a lot quicker than anything else.”
A late fumble and return for a touchdown spurred the Lancers to a 36-34 upset while missed opportunities rued the night for Waubonsie Valley.
In an attempt to try and get the Warriors (0-1, 0-1) from deep within their own territory late in regulation, senior quarterback Tanner Westwood met Perrion Winfrey.
“I just dropped the ball,” Westwood said.
Winfrey, a 300-pound senior defensive lineman, came up with the play of the night for Lake Park by stripping the versatile Westwood with less than a minute to play.
Seconds later, teammate Isaac Moore picked up the ball and ran 25 yards for the eventual game-winning score.
“We just needed the win. Coach (Chris Roll) told me to go out there and do what I need to do and get the ball back,” Winfrey said. “That’s what I did. I saw it wide open. I stripped the ball and (Moore) scored the TD.”
Down 21-13 at half, Lake Park got a 15-yard TD run from David Kirkpatrick and a two-point conversion to tie the game early in the third.
Westwood’s 25-yard strike to Cain put Waubonsie Valley back on top at 28-21 with 9:51 left in the game.
But Lake Park wouldn’t go away.
Lancers quarterback Jackson Behles found Diamante Smith in the corner of the end zone to knot the game up at 28-28 about midway through the fourth quarter.
“This senior class is almost 50 kids and I’ve known them since eighth grade, seventh grade,” Roll said. “They’ve absolutely built a football culture in our community. They’ve never backed down from anything. They knew that we had an off season last year and a lot of them were hurt. I’ve never seen kids work as hard as they did for the last nine months.”
On the night, Westwood completed 13-of-23 passes for 242 yards and three touchdowns.
Two of them went for at least 25 yards as Westwood displayed the big-play potential Waubonsie Valley owns offensively.
Northern Illinois-bound Charles Robinson forced a turnover on the Lancers’ first play from scrimmage.
Four plays later, Logan was in the end zone with a one-yard touchdown run as the Warriors went up 7-0 about four minutes into the game.
Ron Griffin’s defense came up big for Waubonsie Valley in the second half, as well.
Junior Brandon Guido intercepted Behles in the third quarter while sophomore Jamarri Moore recovered a fumble late in the quarter,
Undaunted by his two fourth-quarter turnovers, Westwood isn’t panicking after one week.
“We know that we can do whatever (we need to),” he said. “We know we’re capable of doing a lot of stuff and couldn’t finish at the end.”
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