Waubonsie Valley 55, S. Elgin 13

There will be no pairings-night letdown for Waubonsie Valley this football season.

The Warriors, one of 18 teams last year that were denied a playoff berth despite a 5-4 record, got the essential sixth win Friday with a 55-13 Upstate Eight Conference victory over South Elgin at Dick Kerner Stadium in Aurora.

"We've got six wins, first time since I've been here we've got the sixth win, so we're darn happy with that," said third-year Waubonsie Valley coach Paul Murphy.

Waubonsie Valley (6-2, 5-1) overcame 2 quick interceptions, by South Elgin's Garvin Thomas and Ian Sosna, which allowed the Storm to take a 13-0 lead with 5:59 left in the first quarter.

Setting up shop first at the Waubonsie 4-yard line and again at the 20, South Elgin (2-6, 2-3) scored first on Sosna's 3-yard run and capitalized a series later on quarterback Pete Scaffidi's 12-yard pass to Josh Kabala.

Waubonsie regrouped and behind its all-senior offensive line averaging 245 pounds, ran for 437 yards and scored 8 straight touchdowns.

"It wouldn't take too many football people to know you're going to take advantage of that size and then start pounding the football," said South Elgin coach Dale Schabert, whose defensive ends Mike Schomer and Jake Slania each gave up nearly 100 pounds to Warriors tackles Josh Otten and 315-pound A.J. Lindeman.

"We intercepted two passes early on, I think they kind of made up their mind that wasn't going to be their route," Schabert said.

Warriors back Rich Tronolone started the comeback. On the way to an 8-carry, 165-yard night, he broke free from a scrum in the middle to score on a 24-yard run.

Next time out Mark Mankivsky scored on a 51-yard run. On Waubonsie's next possession he scored on a 2-yarder. Kenny Harrington, his broken left hand in a cast, scored on a 4-yard run for a 27-13 halftime lead.

Murphy told his players not to panic after the interceptions, one of which was answered by a Josh Daniels pick.

Tronolone said the point was: "Getting our focus back and playing like we should and what we're capable of. We just had to pick our heads up, keep it going. And then once we started rolling we kept it going."

The Warriors scored 4 more times in the second half: on Tronolone's 56-yard run, a 10-yard Tyler Castro touchdown pass to Drew Warden, and runs by Tay Webb and Chris Harris.

"A good senior night," offensive guard Brett Einbecker said.