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Metea Valley reaches five-win mark

Metea Valley showed off the type of balance usually reserved for playoff teams, and that's just what this year's Mustangs hope to become.

Friday night at Glenbard East the Rams (3-5, 1-5) did their best to bottle up Metea star running back Bryson Oliver, and for a half they were pretty successful. But the Mustangs used a big passing attack to keep things going strong before Oliver finally came up big, and the end result of the team's huge offensive night was a 45-27 defeat of Glenbard East. That earned the team its first five-win season and has the program playoff eligible for the first time in its brief varsity history.

Oliver ended up with 256 yards and 3 touchdowns on the night, but receiver Nick Dodson was just as big a factor with 9 catches for 239 yards, including TD passes from Kyle Mooney of 67 and 65 yards.

"It feels great to be the first team to come out here and be playoff eligible. It's overwhelming," said Dodson, a 6-foot senior. "It's very exciting, but we can't let this affect our vision for next week. We always want six wins. We want to be in the playoffs for sure."

The Rams, who were eliminated from playoff consideration with the loss, led 7-0 after one quarter after a 35-yard touchdown run by Drake Pusateri, who finished with 167 yards. The defense, meanwhile, limited Oliver to just 13 yards in the first quarter. Oliver gained just 26 yards on his first 11 carries.

But Mooney hit Dodson for a 67-yard score on the first play of the second quarter, and the Mustangs quarterback added a 10-yard TD run of his own as the visitors took a 17-13 lead at the half before both offenses came up big in the second half.

On the night the Mustangs passed for 255 yards and added 282 more on the ground but needed the defense to force six Rams turnovers to secure the win.

Not only did Pusateri run well, but Glenbard East quarterback Phil Abruzino passed for 248 yards and 3 touchdowns. Pusateri had his team on the move in the fourth quarter trailing 38-27 before a lost fumble finally allowed the Mustangs to breathe a little easier.

"We knew this was not going to be easy tonight. They're a very good football team, a very physical football team," Metea coach Ben Kleinhans said. "We knew it was going to be a good fight."

It helped to have some pretty special players in his corner.

"Between Bryson and Nick, and Kyle getting them the football, those three are pretty dang good, and (Dodson) was the best player on the field tonight. He's awfully good and we're glad he's on our side. Kyle went to him in some awfully big situations. It was just a playmaker making plays out there that you don't draw up. They just happen."

Glenbard East coach John Walters liked a lot of what he saw again from his team, but as has been the case too much during this four-game losing streak, the Rams were done in my turnovers.

"We got into a track meet and we turned the ball over too many times. (The Mustangs) were great tonight. They were great offensively and they did a lot of great things to put 45 points up on us. A lot of explosive plays," Walters said. "I thought we played a good game. The last four weeks we're a minus-15 turnovers. And a credit to our kids, we've been in every one of them."

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