Beebe says better D will win as AC gears up for Plano

In the movie "Any Given Sunday," Al Pacino, playing coach Tony D'Amato said, "You find out life's this game of inches, so is football. Because in either game -- life or football -- the margin for error is so small."

Aurora Christian (12-0) and Plano (11-1) certainly took that to heart last week in order to advance to today's Class 3A semifinal game at 5 p.m. in Plano.

The Eagles utilized the extra inches on wide receiver Michael Friend's frame to score a touchdown before halftime and then in the waning minute of the contest turned to Luis Solario, Ryan Perik and Pater Kariotis to stop Amboy on fourth down and inches at their own 15-yard line and the game on the line.

The Reapers' quarterback Brian Green scraped and clawed his way behind the blocks of J.J. Cannon, Kevin Day and Alec Hawks to eclipse 100 yards rushing for the first time this season in Plano's 26-22 victory over top-seeded St. Joseph-Ogden. He needed to as he rushed for all 4 of the touchdowns scored by the Reapers.

The margin for error is expected to be small tomorrow, and it should be, as the winner will earn a trip to Champaign to play for a state championship. It has a familiar ring to it for Plano who won the Class 3A state title last year with a thrilling 47-42 victory over St. Joseph-Ogden, a team that probably doesn't want to see the Reapers anytime soon.

The Plano program has simply been amazing in recent years. If you exclude the losses to Coal City this year and in 2005, the Reapers have gone 36-1. In fact their loss this year to the Coalers came against a team that's currently 12-0 and on the verge of advancing to the Class 4A state finals.

While football is a game of inches, it's also a game of numbers.

One number that's blaring is 43.25. That's what the Eagles are scoring per game this season.

"They've got some outstanding skill players and our kids have read about them and know about (John) Smith and (Jordan) Roberts and Michael (Friend)," Plano coach Jim Green said. "So we're very familiar with those kids and back when they were freshmen and sophomores they used to come here for summer workouts and 7-on-7s."

Aurora Christian coach Don Beebe recalls the cordiality of Plano to allow the Eagles to use their facilities.

"We used to work out together doing stuff three times a week," he said. "We had no field, no equipment. They were very gracious to us and several of them have gone on and gotten training at House of Speed."

Roberts, of course, is the main attraction of the Eagles offensive attack, having completed 141-of-254 passes for 2,401 yards and 33 touchdowns. With Friend (38 catches, 537 yards, 12 TDs), Matt Morse (40 catches, 699 yards, 5 TDs), Joe Redmond (11 catches, 226 yards, 4 TDs), Smith (26 catches, 461 yards) and Sean O'Boyle (14 catches, 287 yards) all capable of making big plays, Roberts has a lot of options and he'll need to utilize them today.

"We have to take advantage of the pass this game," Beebe said. "They are strong against the run, that's their forte, and when they're scored upon it's the pass and that's something we have to exploit with Roberts."

That's not to say that running the ball isn't important and O'Boyle (78 carries, 779 yards, 9 TDs), Smith (102 carries, 746 yards, 13 TDs) and Roberts (63 carries, 637 yards, 9 TDs) will try to move the ball via the rush behind the offensive line of Garrett Gilkey (LT), Alden Johnson (LG), Dan Hill (C), Robbie Marvin (RG) and Braxton Warner (RT) when the opportunities present themselves.

They'll have their work cut out against a Reapers team that is only allowing 8.83 points per game. Linebacker Danny Peruski leads the Reapers in tackles while defensive end Matt Smith and cornerback Alec Haws are two of the other leaders for a defense which has been fantastic all season long.

"What I like about their defense is they don't make mistakes," Beebe said. "They're at the right places and feed off of each other. You don't do this for three years if you're not very good."

When they have the ball the Reapers like to run it and control the clock.

They provided a great example of how they like to play last week when they pulled out the victory after trailing 22-19 with a little over 7 minutes left to play. They used a baker's dozen plays and over 6 minutes of the clock to score a touchdown and basically secure the victory with only about a minute left in the football game.

"That's been a key to our offense, running the ball and controlling the clock," Green said. "Early in the season we struggled and then shuffled the backfield, moving (Luis) Alvarado to fullback from tailback. That's opened things up and now it's been a different guy each week. A couple weeks ago J.J. (Cannon) ran for 230 (yards) and last week against St. Joe it was Luis and Brian who each ran for over 100 yards. It's just been a good mixture to have."

Alvarado (141 yards rushing last week) has plenty of experience playing in big games. Last year he rushed for 175 yards and 3 touchdowns on just 13 carries in the Class 3A state championship. Most significant though was his 33-yard game-winning touchdown run with under 2 minutes remaining.

But, Alvarado isn't the only one the Eagles need to stop as Cannon, Green and Haws, the wingback, are all capable of moving the chains and getting the ball into the end zone.

"They're a team that knows what it wants to do and is going to try to do it," Beebe said.

Tommy Valesquez (110 tackles), Perik (26 solo tackles, 8½ tackles for losses), Kariotis (8½ sacks), Phil Rutherford (4 sacks, 4½ tackles for losses), John Smith (3 sacks, 6 tackles for losses) and Lewis Gaddis (102 tackles) are leading the Eagles' defensive attack.

"We know they are quite talented and execute very well," Green said. "They've come up big and made some stops and we hope to put pressure on them and keep them on the field."

Beebe hopes his team's defense isn't on the field too much and can stop the Reapers in their tracks. He said defense is the key to the game, and has been imperative to the Eagles success this entire fall..

"Our defense is the reason we're 12-0," he said. "We always knew our offense would put up numbers but we've got some tough kids who play sound defense. We're going to see two great defenses and whichever one plays better will win this game."

Lastly, while the Eagles have grown accustomed to scoring in double figures and holding opponents to 7 or less points more than half the time, there's one particular area that they hope can remain in single digits: That's coach Beebe's number of losses (36-9) at Aurora Christian.

If they can do that, they'll not only win this game, but Class 3A championship too.