Aurora Central Catholic drops Bogan
Aurora Central Catholic unleashed its pent-up energy Saturday. Bogan took the brunt of it.
Eager to play football after last week’s washout forfeit win, in true Chicago fashion the Chargers’ hurry-up offense scored early and often in a 42-7 nonconference win at 109-year-old Lane Tech Stadium downtown.
“We had a lot of excuses to come out and be very sluggish, not to get started on what happened last week,” said ACC coach Brian Casey. “And we didn’t do that, so I was pleased by that.”
ACC (2-0) scored on four of its first five possessions to post a 28-7 halftime lead. The Chargers executed their double-wing shell game of inside reverses, tosses and counter traps at high velocity — though Casey said only about 60 percent of capacity — attempting to wear down Bogan (0-2).
“We wanted to go no-huddle from the start, tire them out,” said two-way lineman Eddie Gonzalez. He joined Alec Licar, Tony Hizo, Mikey Malawski, Michael Shanahan and Jeff Kus clearing huge holes for backs Julian Rios, Brian Bohr and Matt Schaefer, then turned right around for 2 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery on defense.
Casey’s favorite drive of the game was the first one, 53 yards over 9 plays in 3 minutes, 9 seconds to score on a 13-yard Shaefer run behind blocking tight end Sean Anger.
Bogan coach Erick Ware explained his preference not to punt — “actually use that third down as a setup play for the fourth down,” he said — but after failing to convert on fourth-down from Bogan’s own 18-yard line it took 2 plays for Rios to bust a 9-yard TD run from a single-wing set.
Rios scored 4 touchdowns on the day, adding runs of 7 and 13 yards and a 34-yard pass from Kyle Reily, the senior’s first touchdown strike for ACC.
“We got more intense this week,” said Rios, who gained 77 yards on the ground with Bohr leading the team with 83 yards rushing and a TD and Schaefer adding 62 yards. “We had a great week of practice. We conditioned very hard and we were preparing this week for the season-opener.”
Bogan offered stellar athletes, but like Ware said, just not enough of them. Quarterback Luwane Pipkins, a third-team all-Chicago Public League basketball player last season, joined 102-yard back Steven Smith and fullback Luqman Mohamed to score the Bengals’ sole score on their own up-tempo, 14-play drive to get within 21-7. Pipkins tossed to receiver Adrian Aviles for the score.
Pipkins also returned an interception 90 yards for an apparent score right before halftime, nullified by a Bogan pass interference penalty. By late in the third quarter, down 35-7, he and the 245-pound Smith were laying behind the bench as trainers massaged cramps out of their legs.
Now that ACC has found its football legs, on to Week 3 — or is it Week 2 — against IC Catholic Prep.
“Obviously we sit here now 1-0 officially, 2-0 on paper and we’ve got to find a way to have our best week of practice we’ve ever had to get ready to play a good IC team for an early conference test,” Casey said.