Spears, West Aurora too much for Elgin

Buck Drach had a Hall of Fame career secured before arriving at West Aurora in the fall of 2006.

But the longtime football coach has never had a pupil like sneior halfback Leon Spears.

The lightning-quick Spears shreded Elgin for 176 yards on 24 carries, and his 3 rushing scores led the Blackhawks to a 28-6 victory over Elgin on Friday night in Aurora.

"He's the best tailback I've ever coached," said Drach after Spears' second straight 3-score night to start the season.

West Aurora (2-0) could not have scripted a better start to the game.

The Blackhawks forced consecutive three-and-outs in the opening quarter, and quarterback Malcolm Wood and wide reciever Aviance King jump-started the West Aurora offense.

King snared a 21-yard reception to sustain the Blackhawks' opening drive,and the senior capped the 10-play, 83-yard march by burning the Maroons' secondary on a 37-yard post pattern.

The two collaborated on another 24-yard strike to put West Aurora at the Elgin 17-yard line, and Spears' 15-yard burst set up the first of his scores from 2 yards out.

West Aurora threatened to deliver a knockout blow with several other golden opportunities over the course of the next wo quarters, but the Maroons thwarted them all.

"We couldn't get a feel for how we were playing," said Spears.

But the West Aurora defense was equally stingy, twice denying Elgin on loss of downs during a critical third-quarter stretch in which the Maroons were deep in Blackhawk territory.

"We took some chances," said Elgin coach Dave Bierman. "We still have too many breakdowns offensively. We couldn't finish (our drives). Defensively, they were on the field too much."

After taking over on downs late in the third quarter at its own 35, West Aurora put the game away with 8 consecutive carries for double digits.

Sophomore backup fullback Brandon Warren complemented Spears' slashing style with inside authority, and Spears scored twice in a four-minute-plus stretch on runs of 10 and 13 yards.

Spearks gained 69 yards on his final five carries to cement the Blackhawks' victory.

"I told the O-line that they could trust me wit hthe ball," said Spears. "There's still work to be done."

"We finally wore them down," Drach said.

"(Spears) is a tremendous back," Bierman said. "He is definitely one of those special one."

Elgin avoided the shutout when junior quarterback Jake Meyer found wide receiver Jordan Smith from 6 yards out with 14.9 seconds to play.

Maxwel Snyder and Jordan Dean had takeaways for the Maroons' defense, which sacked Wood four time.s

"Give Elgin a lot of credit," Drach said.