Scouting West Aurora at Elgin

West Aurora (1-0) at Elgin (1-0)

Game time: 7:30 p.m. Friday

Last year: West Aurora 28, Elgin 6.

Last week: West Aurora 52, East Aurora 12; Elgin 41, Dundee-Crown 12.

Outlook: Given the abilities of Elgin tailback Jordan Dean, West Aurora will need a great defensive effort to hold the Maroons to 6 points this time around. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound senior ran for 734 yards and 9 touchdowns last season, intercepted 4 passes in the secondary and scored five different ways - interception return, punt and kickoff returns, on a rushing attempt and on a blocked field goal return. What's scary is while he ran for 132 yards and scored Elgin's first touchdown against Dundee-Crown last week, the Maroons have big-armed quarterback Jake Meyer running a no-huddle, and got 3 more touchdowns from junior two-way player Dennis Moore - on 4- and 73-yard runs and on a 98-yard interception return. "I think one of the big keys is wrapping those kids up and don't let them get a head of steam going," said West Aurora coach Buck Drach. Maroons coach Dave Bierman hopes the Dean and Moore show continues as it helps his team's depth. "Hopefully we can keep sharing the load a little bit," Bierman said. "(Dean and Moore) both play both ways so it's nice to be able to give them a blow when they need it." Taking a 27-0 lead over East Aurora in the Blackhawks' 10th straight win over the Tomcats, Drach spread the wealth because he's a good sport, and because he could. Backs Marcus Waller scored 3 times and very pleasant surprise Tyson Lassiter scored twice, nearly splitting their total 164 yards on 13 combined carries. Receiver Cole Childs caught 3 passes for 43 yards, Preston Felker turned his 1 reception into a 26-yard touchdown and quarterback Josh Campbell showed the poise and accuracy to emerge from a three-man contest to earn the start against Elgin. The Blackhawks did lose 2 fumbles, and although Drach was happy with his team's game speed - and punter Alex Pope's distance - he thinks tackling better improve against these Maroons. "It was a good start, to get that out of the way, get a game under our belt and see what we can do," Drach said. Bierman knows his team will have to play well to win the final game of the 115-year Elgin-West series, the third oldest foootball rivalry in the state that will end after Friday's game. "West Aurora is going to nbe a challenge for us," he said. "Buck does a great job. He's still doing stuff he's done forever and it still works. He's a Hall of Fame coach. Yes, this will be a challenge for us. But we've got a lot of seniors with a lot maturity. Things were tight in the first quarter last week but there was no panic. It's a credit to our kids that they handled some adversity without panicking." Elgin's last win over West Aurora was in 2003 but the Maroons haven't started a season 2-0 since 2000.

Next week: West Aurora at Naperville Central (1-0), Sept. 10; Elgin at Streamwood (0-1), Sept. 10.