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WW South passes second-round stress test

The Wheaton Warrenville South football team, like other teams, will take a win any way it can. Of late victories came by last-minute heroics.

So can you blame the Tigers if they especially enjoyed Saturday's 31-9 home win over Normal Community in second-round Class 7A playoff action? The outcome of this game was a forgone conclusion with a good chunk of the fourth quarter remaining. Fingernails were in pretty good shape at the end of this one.

"We wanted to finish a game wth no stress, unlike the past two weeks," joked Tiger quarterback Josh Prueter, who ran for an 85-yard touchdown and threw for another. "J.J. (Johnson) was great, and everyone made a bunch of great plays. We wanted to have a statement game."

Johnson ran for 2 touchdowns and led all rushers with 172 yards on 29 carries. It was the second-highest number of points that Tigers have scored this season.

Next up for WW South (7-4), seeded 13th in Class 7A, is a trip to New Lenox for a 1 p.m. Saturday showdown against top-seeded Providence (10-1).

The Tigers rushed for just 16 yards in the first half, but their ground fortunes changed in the final two quarters. On the first play of the third quarter, Prueter appeared to have run for a 57-yard touchdown on a draw play, but a holding penalty brought it back.

WW South went right back to work, and Johnson ran for 40 yards and a first down on the next play to put his team at the Normal 25-yard line. Five plays later, Johnson ran it in from the 13. Ben Flores kicked his second of four extra points to make it 17-3 Tigers.

Late in the third quarter, the fifth-seeded Ironmen (8-3) returned an interception for a touchdown. The extra point was no good and WW South led 17-9.

About a minute into the final quarter, Prueter ran again on a draw play and hit the end zone 85 yards away. Just more than four minutes later, Johnson closed out the scoring on a 1-yard run.

Watson said the Tigers were determined not to let Prueter's voided touchdown get them off their game.

"It definitely motivated us to do it again. We had the personnel and knew we could do it," he said. "Give a lot of credit to the Normal defense. They're a great team and fought to the end."

It was another standout performance by the Tigers defense. Normal had passed for 300 yards and 5 touchdowns in its opening-round win over Plainfield North. The Ironmen were held to 123 yards through the air Saturday. Jake Kyllonen intercepted two Normal passes.

At one point this season, WW South was 1-4 and in danger of not making the playoffs. Now the Tigers have reached the Class 7A quarterfinals but face a huge challenge in the Celtics.

"Today was good to see. We will prepare this week. I hope we play our best game. We will need it," Muhitch said.

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