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Monster effort from Niles North sinks Maine West

Niles North displayed its senior three-headed monster on Friday evening as Maine West came to town for the Vikings' football homecoming game.

And that decidely ground-based monster was key to Niles North's 62-27 victory, as the wind was howling.

Niles North saw stellar performances from senior Barrington Wade, Jr. (21 carries, 223 yards, 2 TDs), Richard Azunna (9-175, 3TDs) and Markhus Taylor (6-107, TD). The Niles North trio accumulated 505 yards and 6 touchdowns.

"This is a big win after losing to Deerfield (last week)," Azunna said. "The line did a great job. We needed more momentum, and we got it with this win. It's a great environment to play football in during homecoming. We have to keep stepping up our play on both sides. There's a lot of camaraderie here."

Out of 10 Niles North offensive drives, the Vikings (3-3, 1-1) scored on seven of them.

Niles North's special teams also got in the act, tallying 9 points on blocked punts. The first was deflected by freshman strong safety Myles Davis into the Warriors' end zone for a safety in the first quarter, and a second-quarter block by junior tackle Dylan Ramirez was picked up by senior Jerome Guy for a 20-yard touchdown return.

Davis also returned a 29-yard interception for a touchdown.

"Anytime you see a punt block in the box score, 85 percent of the time you're going to lose," said Maine West coach Jason Kradman. "We were excited coming into this game and thought it could have been a good game for our program. When it comes down to it, we lost the game at the line of scrimmage."

Maine West didn't have any issues in the first quarter moving the ball. But when the Warriors lost a fumble, the Wade/Azunna/Taylor beast went to work.

At the end of the first quarter, the game was still within reach for the Warriors. However, the turnovers continued, and Maine West took a 35-14 deficit into the locker room during halftime.

"We've struggled the last two weeks running the football," said Niles North coach Mark Egofske. "We got some talented kids in the backfield, but you also have to give credit to the O-line.

"We liked what we saw on tape against (Maine West's) special teams. We thought we could send a couple guys in that we could aggravate and exploit."

Maine West (3-3, 1-1) also had a respectable day on the ground as senior quarterback Jake Riportella led all Warriors with 177 yards and a touchdown (including a passing score). Warriors senior running back Woody Corey tallied 68 all-purpose yards, with both a rushing and receiving touchdown.

The Warriors will go into practice next week in an effort to utilize the loss as a learning experience.

"We got to watch film and learn from a scheme standpoint," Kradman said. "The linebackers couldn't get their hands on any of the (running) backs. We did a couple of nice things on offense, but it was too little too late. We'll be ready for Highland Park (next week)."

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