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West Chicago fends off Larkin rally

It was West Chicago's ball with 8 minutes left and the game tied at 20-20 after Larkin had scored on its last two possessions. West Chicago had fumbled the ball away its last time on offense and needed a spark to get its attack going again.

Enter Danny Lazzerini.

Lazzerini gained 59 yards on 6 carries on the final scoring drive and eventually pounded the ball into the end zone for a touchdown and once again for a 2-point conversion to untie the game and give the Wildcats a 28-22 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory over Larkin at Memorial Field in Elgin Friday night.

It was on that final scoring drive when the Wildcats (3-2, 2-1) seemed to settle back into the groove they had found early in the game, pounding the ball on the ground to the tune of 222 yards for the game.

Lazzerini had 138 of those yards himself, but had not found the end zone until the end of the game, and when he did have the chance to punch it in, he wasn't going to let his team down.

"The touchdown was definitely for my teammates over anything. That one was for the guys," Lazzerini said. "We work our tails off in practice and I wasn't going to let another team take our season from us."

The scoring started early for West Chicago, as it took the opening kick and drove 65-yards, with quarterback Peyton Seidler running in from 2 yards out to cap the first drive.

After a 3-and-out on their next possession from deep in their own zone, the Wildcats found themselves there once again, but this time drove 95-yards to score after Seidler, who finished 9-for-14 for 92 yards, completed a 9-yard pass to Alex Mitchell After the conversion, the Wildcats had an early 14-0 lead in the second quarter.

Both possessions deep in the Wildcat zone was courtesy of good defense and some miscues on offense by the Royals but were pivotal in the outcome of the game according to West Chicago coach Ted Monken.

"We were fortunate enough early on to make some plays and put ourselves in a position to have a lead," Monken said. "We had some nice goal-line stands on their first couple of drives to keep them out of the end zone and those really were the difference makers in the game. If they get points there, with how it turned out in the end, we wouldn't have been in the same position we are now."

West Chicago would get another TD before the horn sounded for half thanks to some trickery that saw wideout Jake DeLuca get a pass behind the line of scrimmage and throw it up to Mitchell for the score and a 20-0 lead at the half. But, much like last week against Streamwood, Larkin was not out of it yet.

Quarterback David Hibbler (17-for-20, 136 yards passing, 14 carries, 54 yards rushing) got the scoring in the second half started for the Royals (0-5, 0-3) on their second possession. One series later he would find A.J. Hunter (9 catches, 80 yards) in the back of the end zone for a 30-yard strike to cut the Wildcat lead down to 7.

West Chicago had the ball for all of 2 plays before Lazzerini fumbled and it was recovered by the Royals' Will Lopez to give Larkin a shot to tie it. After Cameron Tomlin, who had 20 carries and 109 yards, it would be another Hibbler-Hunter connection, this one of 20 yards, to tie the game.

Roaring back with 20 unanswered points, the Royals once again found themselves in position to take the lead, but a costly interception by the Wildcats' Jeff Zajac ended the comeback attempt.

Larkin coach Dragen Teonic said that the interception coupled with a turnover and a fumble on their first two possessions in the red zone made it easy to see why the Royals lost.

"Our mental mistakes were the reason we lost tonight," Teonic said. "Nothing against West Chicago, they played hard and they played well, but I feel like we lost this one instead of them winning it. We shot ourselves in the foot. On the interception we had a miscommunication between players. Our kids battled and they played we just didn't make it happen."

A late safety would make the score 28-22 and gave the Royals one last shot at the end zone but the Wildcats were ready and knocked the pass out of the air to end the game.

Despite the loss and the mental mistakes, Teonic still has liked what his team has shown the past two games in coming back and fighting.

"We did a nice job fighting back once again," he said. "The guys could have easily thrown in the towel and they won't do that. They are fighters and I'm looking for us to continue to grow. Experience tonight would have helped, but the only way to gain it is to go through it, and that's what I think we're doing."

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