West Aurora 9, Glenbard East 6

There's nothing quite like your first win.

Just ask West Aurora football coach Buck Drach, who earned his first DuPage Valley Conference victory in Friday's tightly-contested 9-6 triumph over host Glenbard East.

"It means all the world to me," Drach said. "It means a start. Now we've got to build off of it."

Though they trailed nearly the entire game, the Blackhawks (3-1, 1-1) refused to leave Lombard empty-handed. West Aurora's offense displayed a strong essence of both resilience and determination on their game-clinching drive, marching 73 yards downfield in just 2:32.

"We had a couple kids that believed, and we finally got it going," Drach said. "We started running right at them, and that seemed to work."

Of West Aurora's final 73 yards, 53 came on the ground.

If not for a critical defensive stand, though, the Blackhawks may never have had an opportunity to win the game.

With 8:43 remaining in the game, Glenbard East (1-3, 0-2) took possession of the ball on its own 12-yard line. West Aurora's defense knocked the Rams back 8 yards, forcing Glenbard East to take a safety rather than risk a punt from its own end-zone.

"(The) defense did a great job tonight," Drach said. "We put them in tough positions and they responded. Great players make great plays at big times."

Facing third-and-8 from the Rams 43-yard-line, West Aurora quarterback Johna Nunnally found wideout Tim Soloff for a 20-yard gain that kept the chains moving. On the next play, senior Colton Winston galloped 23 yards to the end zone to put West Aurora ahead 8-6.

"Colton Winston did a great job in the second half running the football," Drach said. "He made some great plays and some great runs, our offensive line started blocking, and we just started clicking. I told him at halftime, I said, 'Look behind you. There's nobody there. It's you or nothing.' "

The Rams had an opportunity to increase their lead to 12 after recovering a fumble on West Aurora's 31-yard line, but gained only 5 yards before turning the ball over on downs.

"We had a chance to put another score on the board in the second half, but we just didn't make the plays," Rams coach Dennis Lueck said. "That's what really hurt us."

Junior Brandon Hayes made his Glenbard East debut a memorable one, racking up 126 yards on 28 carries to provide the Rams with a bright spot on offense.