Willowbrook 69, Morton 34

Going into Friday's game Willowbrook knew what they had to do. It was win and in time for the Warriors, and fortunately for coach Mark Olson, his squad punched their ticket to the playoffs with a 69-34 win over Morton at Hoffman Field.

After scoring 28 unanswered points in the second quarter it was difficult for Morton to get back into the game despite a late offensive explosion.

"This win was good for our kids because we treated it like it was a playoff game," said head coach Mark Olson. "We knew we weren't going to get in with a 5-4 record so this was big."

Willowbrook was led on offense by senior Brandon Martinez, who raked up 194 yards on the ground with 2 touchdowns. Both of his scores would come in the second quarter on runs from 39 and 4 yards out. The Warriors offensive line continued to create big holes for senior Wayne Bolden, who had three touchdown runs from 2, 3 and 51 yards. In total he finished with 130 yards on the ground. Bolden also returned the second half's opening kickoff 90 yards for his fourth score of the night.

"Bolden, Martinez and a lot of our other guys gave a great effort," Olson said. "It's great when you can put the game into your offensive line's hands and play smash mouth football and that's what we did tonight."

At the half it seemed as though Willowbrook would run away with the game but a second-half surge by Mustangs kept the game close and at one point coming within 13 points of the lead. Morton's top offensive threat on the night was senior Issac Vaca, who scored 4 touchdowns, 2 in the third and 2 in the fourth. Morton quarterback senior Alejandro Blanco had 190 yards for the game with another touchdown pass to junior Moses Menedez.

The playoff appearance for Willowbrook will be its first since 2004.

"None of the guys on our team have been to a playoff game before so this is really exciting," Olson said.

Soon after the game ended Olson met with his team at midfield. His advice to his players was to get together, order some pizza and watch the playoff selection show. Not one Warrior seemed to disagree with their coach's advice.