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Aurora Central Catholic knocks off Glenbard South

In the end, the lost fumbles in the red zone on back-to-back possessions, not to mention more than 80 yards in penalties, did not derail Aurora Central Catholic in the second half.

In the Chargers' Metro Suburban Conference crossover football game against Glenbard South Friday night in Aurora, Jeff Albert burst through a gaping hole for ACC with two-plus minutes to play. Forty-one untouched yards later, the Albert score more or less put the finishing touches on the Chargers' 27-13 victory.

"It was the (offensive) line," Albert said. "They did a perfect job of blocking. I couldn't have had a bigger hole."

Line play was a fundamental difference in the game as ACC rushed for 258 yards; the Chargers' defense, meanwhile, sacked Glenbard South quarterback Jack Crouch five times.

Ryan Cerza was the workhorse for ACC (3-0).

The junior tailback had a career-high 213 yards on 26 carries in leading the Chargers' ground attack.

On the opening play of scrimmage after the intermission, Cerza exploited the Raiders' left defensive edge for a 58-yard burst to extend the Chargers' halftime lead to 20-7.

"I saw the lane and took it," Cerza said of the touchdown gallop off right tackle. "We knew it was going to be a tough game. The line blocking was just good. That's how we got the run game going."

But Glenbard South (1-2) was up for the challenge.

After forcing the lone ACC punt of the game, the Raiders took possession at midfield. Crouch hit Peter Jeske for 37 yards, and Bryan Maroney capped the 3-play drive with a 6-yard collaboration with his junior quarterback.

The teams exchanged fourth-down stops on the next two possessions, and Glenbard South seemingly caught a tremendous break when ACC fumbled inside the Raiders' 5-yard line to open the first minute of the final quarter.

ACC would do the same the next time as the Raiders' Justin Goetz recovered a loose ball at his own 19-yard line.

"We should have put this game away (much earlier)," ACC coach John Belskis said.

Glenbard South opened the game with an impressive array of offensive highlights as the team had double-digit gains on 7 of its first 8 plays.

Crouch capped the game-opening 65-yard march with a 10-yard touchdown run.

But ACC answered the score on its first drive and Johnny Belskis' 33-yard touchdown pass to Griffin Zajac in the second quarter gave the Chargers the lead for good.

"We started fast in all of our games offensively," Glenbard South coach Ryan Crissey said. "We put ourselves in a hole. When the lines can't get it done on either side of the ball, it's really hard to play consistently."

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