Wheaton North outduels Metea Valley

Separating teams in the DuPage Valley Conference this season can be a difficult exercise. Take Saturday's Wheaton North-Metea Valley contest, a battle between a pair of 1-2 squads desperate to get back to .500 as the midpoint of the campaign nears.

Wheaton North won 14-8 in a game filled with turnovers and missed chances to score, but also a game in which the final outcome was in doubt until the final play ended.

"I told the kids that I felt that we were in control of the game," Wheaton North coach Joe Wardynski said. "But then you look at the scoreboard and it's a 6-point lead and they had the ball in the end. Obviously, we didn't do enough to finish drives and execute in the special teams."

Though it was a struggle, the Falcons (2-2, 2-1) gained their second consecutive win after opening with back-to-back losses. The hosts never trailed from the moment late in the first quarter when Adam Terrini caught a Luke Anthony pass on the right sideline and raced into the end zone to complete a 26-yard scoring play.

With neither team able to score, the mistakes and near-missed piled up. In the game Wheaton North had a trio of missed field goals and Metea Valley had four turnovers. Those turnovers hurt, especially the Nico Gubenko interception of a Connor Lovely pass late in the third quarter. The Falcons took over on the Mustangs' 19, and scored in five plays. Workhorse back Reese Dickinson took a hand-off at the 1-yard line, stutter-stepped at the line of scrimmage, and tumbled into the end zone.

"I told the kids I was very proud of their effort and they played hard," Wardynski said. "But we need to be a smarter football team and that's in all phases of the game. There are things we could have tonight to finish off this ball game, and that's in all phases of the game."

Metea Valley (1-3, 1-3) was on defense for much of the third quarter but finally found openings in the fourth quarter and built its scoring drive. The scoring play came when Lovely scrambled out of the pocket, which drew Falcons' defenders. Lovely then threw to the left portion of the end zone to Jordan Cagigal, who was wide open. Ben Loutsis ran in the conversion and the Mustangs were suddenly within striking distance.

"Our effort was great, but we didn't execute well enough to win in this league," Metea Valley coach Ben Kleinhans said. "Our defense has hung tough all year. We put them in some bad spots offensively, and the defense kept us in it. They got worn down a little bit on their (second) score, but they have heart and dug deep."

And after Wheaton North turned over the ball on downs, the Mustangs had one final chance. On the final play of the game, Lovely found Alec Dodson open in the right flat as time expired. Dodson raced up the sideline but was caught at the 39.

"We divide the nine games into thirds anyway," Kleinhans said. "We take them one at a time, but we look at it as three three-game seasons. But yeah, it puts more emphasis on next week, obviously. We feel in this league that we're good enough to beat anybody, but everyone else is good enough to beat us."