Special plays make the difference for W. Aurora
A couple special plays made all the difference in the world Friday night at West Chicago.
A winless Wildcats squad battled visiting West Aurora to the final horn and for the most part contained the Blackhawks offense and star tailback Leon Spears.
But West Aurora (3-3, 1-3) used a special-teams touchdown to build a 13-0 halftime lead, and then Spears scored on a dazzling 58-yard TD run in the third quarter as the visitors did just enough to spoil West Chicago's homecoming with a 20-7 DuPage Valley Conference victory.
Spears, who now has 11 rushing TDs and also returned a kickoff 100 yards for a score against Naperville North two weeks ago, was limited to just 27 yards on 14 first-half carries by a Wildcats defense led by linemen Luis Guzman and Mike Thiede. But the Blackhawks scored on a 20-yard Malcohm Wood to Marcus Waller pass in the first quarter, and then Waller single-handedly gave his team a 2-touchdown lead when he blocked a punt, scooped up the loose ball and 25 yards to the end zone for a 13-0 lead with 9:21 left in the first half.
"Marcus Waller stepped it up a lot," said Spears, who finished the night with 90 yards on 17 carries on the rain-soaked turf. "It was real important to get a win tonight."
West Aurora coach Buck Drach was impressed both with his team's defensive effort and with Waller's play.
"The defense did a nice job, but their fullback (Deven Lopez) ran real well up the middle," he said. "And Waller had a real nice game. He had a nice catch on the one touchdown, and (on the punt block) he almost had to wait for the kid to get it on his foot first, but once he got the ball he made a nice run to get into the end zone."
On Spears' long score in the third quarter, he appeared to be bottled up by the Wildcats defense before busting free for 58 yards. Despite a 20-0 hole, however, the hosts hung tough, scoring on a 16-yard scramble by backup quarterback Josh Stein with 1:24 left to play and then threatened again after coming away with the onside kick.
"You take away that blocked punt and it's 14-7 and we get the onside kick with a chance to maybe tie the game," said Wildcats coach Paul Reinke, whose team ran for 179 yards on Friday, with Deven Lopez and Brad Wilson each picking up more than 80 yards.
"I was overly pleased with the way the kids played on both sides of the football. Minus one game we've taken steps in the right direction every time out."