Neuqua humbles Larkin

Neuqua Valley gave Larkin's Justin Kalusa a fine welcome into the world of quarterbacking.

In his first start under center third season, Kalusa was beaten, battered and sacked as Neuqua Valley's defense paved the way for a 38-12 Upstate Eight Conference victory at Elgin's Memorial Field.

In total, Kalusa was sacked or tackled for a loss 9 times and finished with 13 carries for a total of minus 38 yards.

"They sent everyone from every different way," said Kalusa, who went 7 of 20 for 109 yards with a touchdown and an interception. "The corner started coming. The line didn't pick (the blitz) up like we practiced."

The Wildcats (2-3, 1-2) used their defense to take a 17-0 lead with 3:54 left in the first period. After trapping the Royals (2-3, 1-2) to a fourth-and-14 on the 16, a bad snap forced a muffed punt and gave Neuqua Valley a safety and a 9-0 lead.

The Wildcats then poured on the points as running back Nate Pena (19 rushes, 146 yards) rushed in from a yard out to cap off a 7-play, 76-yard drive with 3:54 left in the opening period.

Quarterback Alex Lincoln was 17 of 22 for 224 yards in the first half. The senior had touchdown passes to Conner Yearian (9 yards) and Robert Herzberger (30 yards) in the second quarter to give the Wildcats a 31-6 halftime advantage.

He finished the game airing out 259 yards, but spread the wealth through 5 different targets. Yearian (5 catches, 75 yards), Michael Camire (7 catches, 67 yards), Joshua Schaffer (4 catches 31 yards), Hertzberg (3 catches, 40 yards) and Pena (2 catches 51 yards) proved too much for the Larkin secondary. Lincoln added a 1-yard touchdown run to put the Wildcats up 6-0 early on.

"We definitely spread it around the field," Yearian said. "We have to bring this same energy to St. Charles."

Solid pass rush and constant pressure on the quarterback, like it got against Larkin, is also something Neuqua Valley wants to bring with it for the rest of the season.

"That's what we wanted to do," Wildcats coach Bryan Wells said. "That's what we want to do every week. We just got burned on some big plays."

Big plays are what got Larkin on the scoreboard.

Kalusa hooked up with Yousef Salem on a 48-yard bomb, which eventually set up former quarterback Jeff Saurbaugh's 1-yard touchdown run to put Larkin to within 17-6.

"I was proud of the way Justin played in his first start," Larkin coach Matt Gehrig said. "We had a lot of dropped balls."