Waubonsie Valley overcomes Oliver, Metea Valley
Metea Valley's Bryson Oliver did all he could, but Waubonsie Valley held on to defeat the Mustangs 38-37 on Friday at Dick Kerner Stadium in Aurora.
The 5-foot-6, 150-pound Oliver ran 47 times for 264 yards and 4 touchdowns including a 2-yard up-and-over leap with 1 minute, 59 seconds left in the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division Game.
That pulled the Mustangs within a point of potentially forcing overtime, but they took a 5-yard penalty on a false start and missed the extra point.
"This game was hard fought," said Oliver, who repeatedly hopped, skipped and cut up the middle behind center Matt Fitzgerald and guards Jordan Ruffo and Kyle Grask.
"We went into halftime down I think two scores (35-21)," Oliver said. "Coach (Ben Kleinhans) said come back with a fire, don't let up and we just came back. Our offensive line did great, opened up the holes once again this week. We came out just a little short, that's all."
Waubonsie Valley (6-0, 4-0) survived a nailbiter last week when Nick Horn blocked an extra point in overtime. The Warriors sought similar mojo this week and got it.
"I thought, we've got to do the same thing," said junior linebacker Max Ihry, whose 2 second-quarter interceptions both led to Warrior touchdowns in a call-and-response first half.
"I guess we got enough pressure and he missed the (extra point) and that's the end of that. We stop them on 'D,' get the win," Ihry said.
"We've just got to do a better job executing in the second half," said Warriors coach Paul Murphy.
Waubonsie led 38-21 on Jordan Mellecker's 25-yard field goal with 6:21 left in the third quarter. Metea Valley (3-3, 2-2) closed the game scoring 16 straight points, on an Oliver 5-yard touchdown run, a 25-yard Michael Sfikas field goal and Oliver's 2-run burst with 1:59 to play.
"Going into it, you never say, some kid's going to carry the ball 47 times," Kleinhans said. "But it's so hard when things are there and you've got some things you want and some formations and the offensive line is doing what it's doing to their front, it's hard to go away from it."
After Warrior receiver Keaton Casey returned a punt 59 yards for a touchdown less than a minute and a half into the game the scoring was fast a furious. In a first quarter capped by Waubonsie quarterback Zach Bennema's 60-yard touchdown pass to Justin Rich, the teams were tied 21-21.
Waubonsie own diminutive start tailback, 5-8, 165-pound Tony Durns, ran 23 times for 172 yards and 3 touchdowns. His 7- and 17-yard touchdown runs gave the Warriors the 35-21 halftime lead.
"Me and Bryson, we've been competing since like eighth-grade, seventh-grade I think it was," Durns said. "It's always fun playing against him because we're both very good running backs and we compete. It's always fun competing with someone as good as you."