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Metea Valley still in playoff picture

An injury bug to the defensive unit hasn't stopped Metea Valley from achieving its goal of a possible IHSA football playoff berth.

The "next man up" mentality was on display during a 12-6 victory over DuPage Valley Conference foe Wheaton Warrenville South on Friday and kept the Mustangs in the playoff picture at 3-4.

"When it got down to the fourth quarter, we knew we had to keep up the focus and intensity," Mustangs senior linebacker Blake Nicolls said. "Our focus was there the whole game. We knew we had it in us to win.

"We've had a lot of guys go down, but it's the 'next man up' mentality and we're just going to keep pushing through."

The Metea Valley (3-4, 3-4) defense tallied a first-half interception and two second-half fumble recoveries, as well as a key fourth-quarter stop in the red zone.

Wheaton Warrenville South quarterback Matt Dohse orchestrated one final attempt to tie or take the lead, driving his team all the way down to the Mustangs' 8-yard line with less than two minutes to go.

After the Metea Valley defense stopped Dohse on a QB keeper for a loss of 3 yards, senior defensive back Reggie Hill broke up a pass in the corner of the end zone on third down that was intended for Tigers receiver JJ Johnson. A fourth-down pass with 1:09 left fell incomplete.

"I just went and made a play for my team," said Hill, who also finished with one of the Mustangs' two fumble recoveries. "It was third down and we couldn't have any big plays happen, so I just went out and did my job."

The Mustangs struck first just before halftime when quarterback Connor Lovely fired a fourth-down pass up the middle to Benjamin Loutsis from 17 yards out. The extra-point attempt failed, but Metea Valley maintained a 6-0 lead heading into the locker room.

The pair connected again with 2:15 left in the third quarter when Lovely rolled to his right and lobbed a 4-yard throw into the waiting hands of Loutsis for a 12-0 lead after the extra-point attempt was blocked.

The Tigers (1-6, 1-6) fought their way back on a 10-play, 80-yard drive that saw Dohse complete all four of his pass attempts. The drive ended on a 15-yard TD run up the middle by senior Owen England with 6:55 left in the game.

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