A special night for Wheaton Warrenville South
Wheaton Warrenville South football coach Ron Muhitch called Friday's game with St. Rita "the special teams challenge of the year."
His Tigers were special, all right.
Two Mack Tracey punts turned into Tigers points and Nick Immekus kicked a career-long 46-yard field goal in a 23-14 WW South win in a Class 7A quarterfinal playoff game in Chicago.
WW South (11-1) moves on to host the winner of today's East St. Louis-O'Fallon matchup next weekend. The Tigers answered the bell in their biggest test since a Week 2 loss to Maine South. Since that game WW South had won nine straight games by at least two touchdowns.
"This win shows how far we've come since that Maine South game," Tracey said. "We have a swagger now. I think we answered some questions tonight."
WW South drew first blood a minute into the second quarter on a 1-yard Reilly O'Toole run, set up by a 47-yard catch-and-throw to Greg McAndrew. St. Rita answered with a 13-yard Jahwon Akui run to go ahead 7-6. WW South went three-and-out on its next possession, but in the first critical special teams play Tracey blasted a 60-yard punt that rolled out of bounds at the St. Rita 2.
"Punting's a new thing for me this year - I probably started Week 6," Tracey said, "and we knew coming into this game that punting would be important because (St. Rita) puts so much pressure on you. I had no idea it went that far. I just wanted to get it up in the air and let the wind take it."
WW South forced a St. Rita punt from its end zone, which set up a booming 46-yard Immekus field goal that easily cleared the uprights with 38 seconds left for a 9-7 halftime lead.
"Right when I connected with it I knew I hit it well," Immekus said. "Great snap, great hold, great blocking. I'd say special teams was the difference-maker for us tonight."
The teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter, Julian Banuelos running in a 2-yard score to put WW South ahead 16-7 with 5:51 left. Akui, who ran for 156 yards on 25 carries, made it 16-14 with a 2-yard run in the quarter's last minute.
Two WW South fourth-quarter drives stalled past midfield, and St. Rita appeared poised to get one more crack at the lead with just less than four minutes left. But on a Tracey punt St. Rita muffed the catch, and WW South's Dan Sloboda came up with the recovery.
"We knew their defense was going to stop our offense eventually," Muhitch said, "and when they did we needed to punt the ball, and punt it as a weapon. I believe in that kid (Tracey). Mack Tracey is a competitor."
Five plays later, on third-and-goal, WW South eschewed a time-killing run and field-goal attempt, O'Toole rolling out to hit a sliding Tracey for a 3-yard touchdown pass and 23-14 game-clincher.
"That's a testament to how much we trust our passing game," Tracey said. "A pass like that is like a running play to us."
O'Toole completed 19 of 35 passes to seven receivers for 228 yards. Banuelos, who missed six games this season with a torn MCL, relieved injured back Matt Rogers (concussion) to run for 41 yards and catch 5 passes for 67 yards. McAndrew had 7 catches for 88 yards.
"I just wanted to be back in there and make some plays," Banuelos said. "We played our hearts out tonight."