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WW South winning under pressure

At some point last Friday night, Wheaton Warrenville South football fans were finally able to exhale.

At least for a few days.

For the second straight week - and for who knows how many times during their illustrious playoff history - the Tigers pulled out a miraculous victory to keep their season alive. Trailing 10-7 with less than two minutes to play, no timeouts remaining and Lincoln-Way North holding possession, the Tigers forced a fumble, drove for a game-tying field goal and won 17-10 in overtime.

Phew. A week after a scoop-and-score of its own fumble beat Naperville Central in the final seconds of the regular-season finale, another fantastic finish fell in favor of WW South.

Needless to say it's been an emotional handful of weeks for the Tigers, who have been in must-win mode for more than a month since falling to 1-4.

"It's energizing at the time you go through it, but it's emotionally and physically draining after," said Tigers coach Ron Muhitch. "But all that matters is that we're staying alive."

Now comes the tricky part.

The Tigers (6-4) face a Class 7A matchup Saturday in Wheaton against Normal Community (8-2), which just beat Plainfield North 42-34 with its own miracle finish. Trailing 28-7 at halftime, Normal scored 29 fourth-quarter points, including 3 touchdowns in the final four minutes to stun Plainfield North.

The question is, which miracle-working team will continue to survive Saturday?

"They're a scary team, but that's what makes it fun this time of year," Muhitch said. "We're expecting another great game."

A game of momentum changes:

Waubonsie Valley's Paul Murphy is among the more patient coaches out there. He took particular pride in the game-long execution by his coaching staff and players in the Warriors' 21-14 first-round playoff win over Metea Valley.

"It was a great chess match for four quarters," Murphy said, also praising Metea's coaches on keeping Waubonsie guessing where defenders stacked up against his offense.

"We'd call a play and all of a sudden they're in a different alignment which wasn't conducive to the play that we called," Murphy said. "We kept probing and probing for three quarters and by the fourth quarter we had a rhyme or reason for what they were doing."

A lot of the probing was concerned with how the Mustangs employed defensive end Erin Morgan, who had 2 sacks with 2 other tackles for loss operating against Waubonsie's weak side.

It all came together on the Warriors' game-winning, 53-yard touchdown drive. They knew Morgan would be rushing hard against quarterback Zack Bennema, who completed a screen pass to tailback Rodney Gee that went for 25 yards. On Max Ihry's 7-yard touchdown run, Waubonsie went to the strong side away from Morgan, but Bennema held him from running down the back side with a fake bootleg.

Murphy was pleased his team played "a 48-minute football game."

"I think our kids are starting to understand the mental toughness they need to play in these kind of games," he said Saturday. "It shouldn't be any different against Naperville Central. It's going to be a war."

Back up:

Every team facing Glenbard West (10-0) game plans to slow down explosive junior running back Sam Brodner, who's rushed for nearly 1,400 yards and 20 touchdowns.

As the season's progressed, however, a stable of running backs has emerged to give opposing defenses way too much to worry about as we move deeper in the playoffs. Four players last week combined for nearly 300 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns as the Hilltoppers pulled away to a 34-14 victory over Fremd in the opening round of the Class 8A playoffs.

"Teams are obviously focusing on Sam, and now other guys are stepping up," said Glenbard West coach Chad Hetlet. "We've got some good depth there. It's been a big help."

With Donahvon Vaughn struggling through injury issues late in the season, backups Sean Mackey and Isaiah Skinner have seized the opportunity to step up. They combined for more than 80 rushing yards against Fremd with Mackey opening the game's scoring with a 25-yard touchdown run.

Vaughn continues to get healthier each game, evidenced by the fullback's 2 touchdowns in short-yardage situations last week.

The hot hands help take some of the defensive focus off Brodner heading into Saturday's second-round game at Palatine (8-2). The fact that each of the four backs can play any of the three running back spots in Glenbard West's offense only adds to the effectiveness.

"We're really excited with the way Mackey and Skinner are playing," Hetlet said. "It makes it harder for teams to key on anything we're trying to do offensively."

The Dominator:

In St. Francis' 26-24 Class 6A first-round win over Grayslake North, the Spartans revisited a play they call "The Dominator."

A trick play named for junior back Dom Cosentino, the first time he ran it the play went 14 yards for a touchdown in St. Francis' 33-14 win over DeLaSalle.

Against Grayslake North, Cosentino tucked in a single-wing close behind right guard Spencer Stibbe and right tackle Quinn Calcagno with the offensive line in tight splits. Aiding the deception the offensive line remained standing, basically milling around even after center Cole Cunningham snapped the ball.

William Purdom came in motion from the left slot, quarterback Clint Bobowski faked a handoff with his right hand and with his left dealt the ball to Cosentino, who scampered 26 yards around left tackle Kevin Killian.

Part of the effectiveness was the difficulty seeing Cosentino behind the line. Stibbe stands 6-feet-2, 240 pounds, Calcagno at 6-5, 225. Cosentino goes 5-5, 135 pounds, but in his crouch his helmet was no higher than his linemen's backsides.

Now that it's been run twice St. Francis coach Mike Fitzgerald said "The Dominator" probably won't reappear.

"Unless there's an option off it," he said.

Another option:

Speaking of options in St. Francis ground game, senior running back Steven Fassnacht may return Saturday against Lakes. He suffered a broken ankle Week 3 against Marmion, already having compiled 210 yards rushing with 5 touchdowns.

Due to diligent rehabilitation and therapy Fassnacht has made great progress, returning to practice last week and begging coaches to get him in the first-round playoff game. They declined for health reasons.

The St. Francis crowd figured Fassnacht would be done for the season when the injury happened, but Fitzgerald said due to "nonstop" rehabilitation Fassnacht is on the verge.

"That's the kind of kid he is, an inspiration to the whole team," the coach said. Fassnacht's teammates were similarly motivated.

"If we kept it going there was some chance he could get back on the field, and our guys wanted to see that," Fitzgerald said.

The monster:

Addison Trail (9-1) played without leading rusher Malik Pierre-Louis for three weeks late in the season because of injury, but he returned to rush for 70 yards in last week's 7-3 first-round Class 7A victory over Lake Zurich.

Now it looks like the Blazers have created a monster heading into Saturday's second-round game at Libertyville (7-3).

"We've got a two-headed monster," said Blazers coach Paul Parpet Jr.

The second head of the monster belongs to fellow junior running back Mike Hundley, who rushed for 300 yards in the regular-season finale against Willowbrook. With Pierre-Louis and Hundley both in the mix, the Blazers offer the perfect combination of power and speed in the backfield.

"I think it's a good rotation, especially in the playoffs," Parpet said. "It's tough to take either of them off the field because they've both been so good, so we'll keep rotating them."

Coming off quarterback Mike Rybarczyk's season-ending ankle injury, Pierre-Louis and Hundley continue to ease the transition of Ryan Zygowicz into his role as starting quarterback. Last week Zygowicz was an efficient 6-of-10 passing for 71 yards.

Expect the Blazers to lean on Pierre-Louis and Hundley as Zygowicz grows more comfortable behind center.

"Zyg's getting better each week, but running the ball is what we do best," Parpet said. "With Malik's tough running and Mike's ability to break a long run, that's what we're going to keep focusing on."

The first:

After 4-5 seasons in 2011 and 2013, Metea Valley broke into the playoffs this season, its fifth on the varsity level.

Mustangs coach Ben Kleinhans, whose Mustangs lost to a Waubonsie Valley team led by his high school coach, Paul Murphy, called it "a season of firsts" - first regular-season winning record, first playoff appearance and game.

Kleinhans said senior stalwarts such as Matt Fitzgerald, Bryson Oliver, Nick Dodson, Ron Edwards Jr., Brett Boddy, Erin Morgan and Nick Dodson finished "laying the foundation for the program."

Metea's widest margin of loss was 28-14 to Neuqua Valley in Week 9.

"We're close," said Kleinhans, who moves into the DuPage Valley Conference next year along with Neuqua and Waubonsie.

"We've got to figure out how to beat some teams right there down the road and in our area. But we're very close."

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