Waubonsie Valley controls ball, Lake Park
It's pretty basic. Waubonsie Valley holds onto the ball, it wins.
Add a few mistakes from the other team and it's even easier.
Waubonsie Valley scored 23 points off 4 Lake Park turnovers to gain playoff eligibility and deal the Lancers their first loss in the Upstate Eight Conference, 36-14 on Friday in Roselle.
"We've got to take care of the ball and just not give it up, and when we do that our offense can go and score just like we did," said receiver-kicker Scott Kuehn, who caught 2 second-quarter touchdown passes within two minutes, the second after teammate Derek Mickelson's interception. "We got 5 touchdowns there. When we take care of the football we can put it in the end zone."
Lake Park (6-2, 5-1), which dropped a game back of 6-0 St. Charles East in the Upstate Eight Conference race, marched downfield methodically, impressively, scoring on Artie Monaco's 13-yard run to cap a 13-play, 75-yard opening drive.
Waubonsie Valley ran the same type of series, taking 12 plays to score on Kuehn's first touchdown catch, a 6-yard fade from Kenny Clay, though the Lancers led 7-6 when the kick failed.
Lake Park responded after Kuehn's second touchdown catch, a 28-yarder. Larry Nawrot completed a 68-yard pass to Jake McNamara to set up Monaco's second touchdown run, a 9-yard draw with 4:31 before halftime. That pulled the Lancers even at 14-14 with Waubonsie Valley (5-3, 4-2).
It was all Warriors from there, starting with linebacker Rickey Simpson's touchdown by falling on a long punt snap that rolled into Lake Park's end zone. Waubonsie led 20-14 at halftime.
"Ecstasy on the gridiron," said Simpson, a key to the Warriors' defense on Friday along with Owen Saldana and Cory Connolly.
"We really helped our defense out and they really helped us out, especially by getting that big touchdown," said Clay, 12 of 16 passing for 102 yards.
The Warriors continued to roll when Jalen Love's fumble recovery led to Mark Szott's leaping, 1-handed touchdown grab, the only scoring in the third quarter. On the ensuing kickoff Devon Morgan recovered a Lancers fumble and Kuehn promptly booted a 41-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Waubonsie salted the game away on its next possession, a 10-play drive capped by Clay's 8-yard touchdown run.
"We didn't help ourselves, but they beat us," said Lake Park coach Andy Livingston. "They played a good game. You've got to give credit where credit's due. They came out in the second half, we couldn't find an answer."