Waubonsie Valley 3-0 for 1st time since 1994
Waubonsie Valley’s unknowns in the trenches are no longer an unknown commodity.
Just ask Warriors star running back Austin Guido and head coach Paul Murphy. They know how much seniors Joe Rodriguez and Jackson Hynes and juniors Jon Harris, Noah Szott and Anthony Napolitano have meant in achieving a piece of football program history on Saturday afternoon at Streamwood.
The all-new starting offensive line crew helped drive Waubonsie to joining the 1994 team as the only ones to open a season 3-0 after a 56-0 Upstate Eight Conference crossover romp at Millennium Field.
“We were pretty pumped to go out and become the second team in school history to start 3-0,” Rodriguez said after helping the Warriors roll up 343 yards in just 36 plays as the entire second half was played with a running clock.
Guido needed just 11 carries to rush for 129 yards and scored 3 of his 4 touchdowns in the first quarter. The Warriors’ aggressive defense allowed only 68 yards all that kept them from scoring off all 6 turnovers by Streamwood (1-2) was time running out after Jeff Markham’s second interception of the first half.
“Against a great team it was a tough task anyway,” Streamwood coach Cal Cummins said of the miscues, “but we never really got off the ground and things snowballed.”
Leading the offensive avalanche was a crew of players for line coach Ben Manzella whose only action last year was as juniors in blowouts or at the sophomore level. But the changes up front haven’t slowed Guido, who now has 620 yards rushing and 11 TDs after running for 1,182 yards last year.
“They’ve been awesome,” Guido said after scoring on runs of 4, 5, 56 and 1 yard. “I couldn’t ask for better linemen.”
Dylan Warden also hit Kyle Neese with a wide-open play-action 29-yard touchdown pass for a 28-0 lead. Waubonsie also got second-half rushing touchdowns of 28 yards from Demario Webb (5 carries, 64) yards and 5 yards by Jon Fizer.
“We struggled in the beginning (of the season) but we’ve gotten everything together,” Harris said.
“We’ve been doing much better than we expected,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve been working together since June and getting in the weight room and these guys have been awesome.”
Even better for the Warriors is senior Nile Ben-Salem also returned to action from an injury Saturday.
“Because of the inexperience factor you’re always worried and you have three juniors who have to adjust to the speed of the (varsity) game,” Murphy said. “I’m very pleased. Coach Manzella has done a great job with the O-line and they keep getting better.”
Murphy was also much happier with his defense as he switched to a three-man front to contain Streamwood’s passing game and Northern Illinois-bound receiver Blake Holder. Troy Fumagalli, Kurtis Chione, Riley Kittridge, Dominic Weaver and Trevor Hardin made junior quarterback Mason Polich’s first start a rough one as he was nailed eight times for losses and intercepted 4 times.
Andrew White’s 40-yard interception return 3:01 before halftime made it 42-0, Brock Westwood also had an interception, linebacker Jake Bennema had 2 sacks and a tackle for loss and Fumagalli had a sack and 2 tackles for losses. About the only downer for Waubonsie was an injured left knee on a first-quarter kickoff to linebacker Mark Iwaszyk, whose condition was not known by Murphy after the game.
Hugh Griffin, Greg Smith and Austin Lacke kept the pressure on Polich as he was 8-for-21 for 79 yards. Cummins said senior quarterback Jordan McFeggan, who started the first two games, is no longer on the team.
“It was rough (making) your first start against a team like this bringing heat all over the place,” Cummins said. “Not that he didn’t make some plays, but it was a tough challenge.”