Scouting West Aurora @ Wheaton Warrenville South
By Dave Oberhelman
West Aurora (3-5, 1-5)
at Wheaton Warrenville South (7-1, 6-0)
Game time: 7:30 p.m. today.
Last year: WW South 41, West Aurora 7.
Last week: Glenbard East 35, West Aurora 33; Wheaton Warrenville South 35, Glenbard North 7.
Outlook: It was a little surprising Wheaton Warrenville South dominated a Glenbard North squad that had not allowed an offensive touchdown from Weeks 2-6. But the Tigers did, and the No. 3 team in Class 7A provides West Aurora's final challenge. "They're going to score, and we're going to try to match them," said Blackhawks coach Buck Drach, who lost to Glenbard East for the first time in three seasons to fall out of playoff consideration. The Rams kept West Aurora's dynamic Leon Spears out of the end zone on a 2-point conversion to clinch the win, but a big positive was quarterback Malcolm Wood's 5-of-7 passing for 88 of the Blackhawks' 98-yard scoring drive with 26 seconds remaining. Spears will be the focus of the Tigers' defense, as he is every opponent's. The 170-pound senior enters his final high school game with 981 yards and 15 touchdowns rushing on the season. Spears will be hard-pressed to add to his 321 yards and 2 touchdowns on kickoff returns against WW South kicker Nick Immekus, who had a streak of 23 straight touchbacks broken, then started another streak with 4 straight. WW South's leading rusher, Matt Rogers, has less than half Spears' total, at 409 yards and 9 touchdowns. Other than Immekus, the main eye-popping number out of WW South belongs to quarterback Reilly O'Toole, who has completed 84 of 121 passes (69 percent) for 1,184 yards, 15 touchdowns and no interceptions. Perhaps Nate Zinzer can give O'Toole his first. In West Aurora's season finale Drach said he may try anything offensively, try to give Wood and receiver Aviance King (18 receptions, 406 yards, 5 touchdowns) chances to do things out of "the back pages of the playbook." After last week's loss to Glenbard East and a collapse against Wheaton North that combined to take the Blackhawks out of playoff contention, a key tonight will simply be "have some fun," Drach said. "We're going to try to mix it up a little bit and get after them the best we can."