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Metea Valley rises to the challenge

Metea Valley has had its share of misfortune this fall, with the Mustangs' past three football losses coming by a combined seven points.

But on Friday they overcame a 7-point halftime deficit to defeat Lake Park 27-19 in Roselle and keep their playoffs hopes alive.

"We really challenged our guys at half," Metea Valley coach Ben Kleinhans said. "We didn't have a lot of energy in the first half. We got aggressive on offense and moved the ball down the field."

Keying the comeback was sophomore quarterback Payton Thorne, who scored a touchdown with a 9-yard run to knot the score at 13-13 in the third quarter. He then found Michael Brown for a 30-yard touchdown pass on Metea Valley's next possession to give the visitors the lead for good.

"In the first half our offense was pretty bad," said Thorne, who threw for 266 yards. "At halftime we made our adjustments. It was more of a mindset thing. In the first half we weren't really executing and there was not a lot of energy. We came out in the second half with a lot of energy and started executing things, and when we play like that, we will put points up.

"Being in so many close games, coach said we were done learning lessons. We just had to finish."

A 62-yard touchdown by Jayden Reed on a wide receiver screen gave the Mustangs (2-4, 2-4 DuPage Valley Conference) a 27-13 advantage late in the third.

But Lake Park answered with a 5-yard scoring run by Deonte Givens with 10:35 left in the contest.

The Lancers got the ball back two more times, including a final drive where the home team went down to Metea Valley's 13-yard line with less than a minute remaining. But on fourth down the Lancers were flagged for offensive pass interference in the end zone on a controversial call; the home side thought the call was going the other way.

"We made so many mistakes in the second half," Lake Park coach Chris Roll said. "It's on us, no ref ended the game. We struggled with blocking and tackling and our fundamentals. You can't win in this league with average practices and undisciplined Friday nights."

Lake Park (2-4, 1-4) began the scoring on its first play from scrimmage courtesy of a flea-flicker, as Givens took a lateral from quarterback Jackson Behles and connected with Danny Spejcher for a 67-yard TD. Diamante Smith later caught a 39-yard score from Behles after the Mustangs' Ashton Creal hauled in a 47-yard touchdown.

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