Metea Valley spoils South Elgin's homecoming
Metea Valley got off the bus throwing.
The Mustangs used the pass to open up the run in a 44-27 Upstate Eight Valley victory at South Elgin on Saturday.
Metea Valley quarterback Kyle Mooney spoiled South Elgin's homecoming by throwing 3 of his 4 touchdown passes in the first half to Kris King (6 yards), Nick Dodson (16 yards) and Michael Phillips (21 yards).
"We knew with their corners playing press with our big players that we could have big plays," Mooney said after completing 13 of 18 passes for 141 yards without an interception.
The early touchdown throws forced South Elgin to drop another man into coverage, which left its defensive front a bit more vulnerable against dynamic running back Bryson Oliver.
A 5-foot-6, 150-pound senior, Oliver carried 31 times for a season-high 242 yards, including touchdown runs of 8 yards at the end of the first half and 50 yards in the third quarter.
"We had to loosen them up with the pass a little bit and it kind of opened up," Metea Valley coach Ben Kleinhans said. "He (Oliver) really had to stay patient. And he's a workhorse. You look at him and you wouldn't think he is, but the guy can flat-out carry the load for us."
Eight of Oliver's 31 carries went for 10 yards or better, including a 48-yarder and the 50-yard touchdown.
"The first half was tough with me running. I was missing holes and stuff like that," Oliver said. "But the second half, as time started going, stuff started opening up. I was going a little too fast out there getting to the holes, but I let my line do their job and followed through."
South Elgin made a personnel move late in the first half. Starting quarterback Hayden Nelson completed 7 of 9 passes for 113 yards and 2 first-half touchdowns, including a 40-yard bubble screen pass to running back Shawn Griffin and a remarkable diving catch by Nick Menken for a 29-yard score that drew the Storm within 17-14 with 10:40 left in the first half.
However, Nelson also threw first-half interceptions to Metea Valley's Reggie Hill and Kelvin Givantt II. Junior Jake Amrhein relieved Nelson late in the second quarter and played the second half.
"I've said since before the season began that both guys are going to play this year," South Elgin coach Pat Pistorio said.
Amrhein went on to complete 11 of 14 attempts for 164 yards and a touchdown: a 3-yard pass to Andrew Kamienski that drew the Storm within 31-21 with 2:04 left in the third quarter.
However, Oliver and Metea Valley (3-2, 2-1) answered South Elgin (2-3, 1-2) on their next possession when Oliver burst up the middle for a 50-yard touchdown. Michael Sfikas' point after staked the Mustangs to a 38-21 lead with 33 seconds left in the third quarter.
South Elgin scored on its ensuing drive to again close the gap. A 35-yard pass from Amrhein to Kamienski set up a 2-yard scoring run by Shawn Griffin that pulled the Storm within 38-27, though the 2-point conversion run failed.
Metea Valley all but sealed the win with a 12-play, 55-yard drive that consumed five minutes and 24 seconds. Mooney capped that march by lofting a perfectly placed 23-yard touchdown pass to Dodson just inside the right front pylon.
Senior running back Kyle Ware finished with 16 carries for 110 yards and Menken made 5 catches for 95 yards for South Elgin. The Storm outgained Metea Valley 433 total yards to 409, but the Mustangs won the turnover battle 3-0.
"I'm disappointed that our seniors weren't able to walk out of here with a W on homecoming," Pistorio said. "We're going to go back to the basics regarding all three phases and just try to scale them back a little bit. We're trying to improve our tackling midseason and that sometimes is tough to do when you're kind of beat up, but we're trying to figure out a way to do that. And minimizing the big penalties and some of the turnovers there in the first half will be our ultimate goal this week."