Waubonsie Valley ends Lake Park playoff hopes
Waubonsie Valley got a game closer to achieving a football playoff slot - ending that goal for Lake Park.
Trailing 7-6 at halftime, Waubonsie Valley rallied to a 26-7 Upstate Eight Conference win on Friday at Dick Kerner Stadium in Aurora.
Warriors quarterback Tyler Castro completed 19 of 28 passes for 244 yards, with 2 touchdown passes to Mark Hilgers and 1 to Scott Kuehn, who caught 9 passes for 124 yards.
"This is a huge step, now we've got three more games, take those, make the playoffs and get it going," Castro said.
A playoff team 10 times in 11 years through 2003, Lake Park (1-5, 1-3) will pack it in after Week 9 for the fourth time in five seasons.
"We have three conference games left and they should be three wins," Lancers quarterback Larry Nawrot said of future foes who entered Friday a combined 2-13. "So, just go out, play our hardest and take it from there."
On Lake Park's ninth offensive play Chris Jasinski got a block by Kyle Steiger on a draw play and went 45 yards for a touchdown. Pete Demars' kick gave Lake Park a 7-0 lead with 54.5 seconds left in the quarter.
Waubonsie Valley (3-3, 3-1) countered on a 12-play drive capped by a 1-yard touchdown dive by Sherrod Stancil, a defensive tackle inserted at the fullback spot, he's being recruited to play by Eastern Illinois.
"It was almost like a spur-of-the-moment thing," the 240-pounder said of his first-ever touchdown. "(Coach Paul Murphy) said, 'Run the football.' I said, 'OK.'"
The Warriors missed the extra point, then dodged a bullet when Lake Park came up empty in the red zone just before halftime. Twice cornerback Pat Wellman broke up passes in the end zone.
Lake Park began the third quarter with a drive that stalled at the Waubonsie 23. Slowly the Warriors took control.
At 2:05 of the third quarter Castro hit Kuehn on a 37-yard bubble pass for a touchdown. After the defense stuffed a Lake Park fake punt attempt, Castro made it 19-7 on a 9-yard slant to Hilgers with 8:40 remaining.
Nawrot, who threw 44 passes and completed 22 for 180 yards, again drove Lake Park downfield, but a Stancil tackle on fourth-and-1 ended that at the Waubonsie 18.
Hilgers scored again on a 3-yard pass with 1:29 left.
Murphy said Lake Park defended the Warriors' sets of two receivers on both sides of the field, but when they moved three to one side the passing game clicked.
"It's like 3-on-3 basketball," Murphy said. "We'll take those odds with our skill out there."