Roundup: Aurora C. wins, Moosehear loses
Aurora Christian often wins games behind its aerial assault.
In beating Chicago Christian 34-7 Friday night in Palos Heights, the Eagles turned to their ground game and defense, and that was a combination Chicago Christian had no answer for.
Sean O'Boyle ran for 188 yards and 3 touchdowns, and John Smith added 127 yards and another score to give the Eagles a key Private School League win. Aurora Christian (5-0, 2-0) is a game ahead of the defending champs (4-1, 1-1).
"It was a very physical game," Aurora Christian linebacker Ryan Perik said. "Our defense was sound the whole game."
Even though the Eagles didn't move the ball through the air, they still struck quick all night. Their five scoring drives lasted 3, 4, 4, 6 and 1 play -- starting with a 3-play, 99-yard drive.
O'Boyle capped that with his 30-yard touchdown run.
After Chicago Christian tied the game with a 26-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter, the Eagles took the lead for good on Smith's 2-yard touchdown run with 8:23 left in the second quarter.
Aurora Christian extended its lead to 21-7 at halftime on Jordan Roberts' 21-yard touchdown pass to Michael Friend.
Roberts and Joe Redmond both intercepted passes in the first half. The Eagles won the turnover battle 3-1.
After a scoreless third quarter, the Eagles went up 28-7 with 11:19 left in the game on O'Boyle's 1-yard touchdown run. Aurora Christian coach Don Beebe lined up 317-pound defensive lineman Peter Kariotis in a three-back set that paved the way for O'Boyle.
O'Boyle scored one more time, this time on a 70-yard sprint down the left sideline, for the final points.
Aurora Christian outgained Chicago Christian 428 yards to 233 in a dominating effort for the Eagles' defense.
"We studied real hard all week for this," O'Boyle said. "Our motto was Pound the Rock.
"We haven't beat this team for awhile. It's really good for our program."
Football
Brookfield Academy 17, Mooseheart 8: On the upside, not many traveled the 130 miles from Mooseheart to watch the Red Ramblers football team fall 17-8 to Brookfield Academy.
On the downside-- well, there were more than a few downsides as Mooseheart suffered through the game, unable to stop quarterback Andrew Oesterling and also unable to move the ball itself.
The loss drops the Ramblers to 3-2 for the season.
"This was embarrassing," Mooseheart coach Gary Urwiler said. "We didn't play well in any facet of the game. It was like we weren't ready to play. I'm kind of speechless."
Brookfield Academy (3-2) scored all its points in the first half. Oesterling pulled the strings, faking handoffs for keepers or passes or handoffs to other runners to keep the Ramblers off-balance.
He scored the first touchdown on a short run midway though the first quarter. A stalled drive later in the quarter led to an Erik Wemuth 25-yard field goal.
Oesterling ran in from 16 yards with 32 seconds left in the first half to leave Mooseheart staring at a 17-0 halftime score.
"I had no indication that we'd come out and be flat like that," Urwiler said.
The Ramblers recovered somewhat in the second half. Spurred by a hurry-up offense, the team found its passing game. Quarterback Chris Morones hit Andy Greenaway for a pair of long passes and the team moved quickly upfield.
But the end zone still remained elusive until 7:02 remained in the game, when Gabe Kendor ran in from 3 yards. Morones ran in the two-point conversion.
"The only good thing is that we drove the ball passing when we had to," Urwiler said. "That was nice to see, even though we dropped a lot of balls."
Mooseheart held Brookfield Academy on its next possession, but then roughed the punter. When the Ramblers got back the ball, little time remained.
"Every time we did something well, we had a mistake or a penalty or a mental mistake," Urwiler said.
The Ramblers return home for a pair of contests. First is Friday's game against Maranatha Baptist. Next is the annual homecoming contest, which is Oct. 6 against North Shore Country Day.
"We need to find our way with these next two," Urwiler said. "We'll find out what kind of character we have. Hopefully this one hurts in the belly a little bit. So we'll see."
-- Darryl Mellema
Girls tennis
Geneva 7, Kaneland 0: The Vikings singles players, Kayla Fujimoto, Blair Selakovich, and Jamie Potts all won their matches 6-0, 6-0. Liz Bertrand and Krista Panko took first doubles 6-0, 6-1.