South Elgin cannot contain West Aurora
In his first season at South Elgin, Dregan Teonic came away mightily impressed with the West Aurora football team following the Upstate Eight Conference regular-season finale Friday night.
"They have as much talent as anyone in the state," Teonic said after West Aurora manhandled the Storm 48-10.
With its seventh running-clock victory on the season in Aurora, the Blackhawks (8-1, 8-1) established new program bests for most points scored (405) and fewest points allowed (58) in a nine-game season.
South Elgin is also in the Class 8A playoffs in ending its regular season at 6-3 overall and in the league.
The West Aurora offensive standouts were once again on display throughout the game to the dismay of the Storm defense.
Hezzy Salter scored three consecutive touchdowns for West Aurora in staking the team to a commanding 28-3 lead at halftime.
Salter had scoring runs of 2, 13 and 11 yards on successive drives in the second quarter in garnering a game-high 95 yards on 13 carries.
Ja'Quan Buchanan more than filled in admirably for Salter when his classmate was banged up with a knee injury in the second half of the season.
Buchanan had a first-quarter rushing score from a yard out to give West Aurora a lead never to be surrendered; the senior had the final team score with a 39-yard touchdown reception from highly regarded junior quarterback Will Tammaru.
"We have a lot of playmakers on this team," said West Aurora returning all-state guard Ian Mooney. "Any one of them can score a touchdown from anywhere. I love blocking for them."
Buchanan had 69 yards rushing and another 81 receiving in complementing Salter at tailback.
West Aurora fullback Trevon Tittle had a career-high 93 yards rushing on 14 carries, including a ground score from 10 yards away as the Blackhawks had a run of 41 unanswered points in the game.
"I think it's the most talented backfield in the state," said Tammaru, who amassed 201 throwing yards on a mere 7 completions. "They were unstoppable. Our chemistry is great right now."
Tammaru turned to athletic wide receiver Moshe Rogers to end all suspense to the final outcome.
Following in the footsteps of back-to-back three-sport West Aurora stars Davion Cross and Camron Donatlan, Rogers had a dazzling 63-yard touchdown catch and run in the third quarter.
"I wasn't surprised at all by (the point spread)," Rogers said. "We know we can compete with any team in the state when we come ready to play."
Rogers finished with 113 yards on 4 catches.
"We simply could not stop them," Teonic said.
Shiking Marshall was the South Elgin bright spot with 237 all-purpose yards and a late scoring reception.