ACC notches 1st victory for Casey
There was jubilation all around the Aurora Central Catholic campus Friday night.
From the football team members dancing deliriously in the locker room to the equally festive crowd in the parking lot long after the Chargers' game with Marengo had ended, there was something in the air missing for nearly four years: a home victory to celebrate.
"One thousand, four hundred and forty-eight days (since the Chargers last home win against St. Edward in September 2006)," said first-year Aurora Central coach Brian Casey, whose squad improved to 1-1 on the season with a 19-7 triumph over the Indians (0-2) in Aurora.
The Chargers did all their damage in the second quarter. Thirty-six seconds into the quarter, Kyle Clechenko, who sat out his sophomore year after transferring from St. Charles North, scored the Chargers' first touchdown of the season when he went untouched from 9 yards out to cap a 12-play, 80-yard drive.
"All I had to was run straight," Clechenko said of the massive opening on the counter play. "I credit the offensive line on that one."
On a night when big plays from scrimmage hovered between rare to almost non-existent, Kendel Reed delivered for the Chargers' special teams. The diminutive special teams player downed a Steve Carroll punt at the Indians' 1-yard line with Aurora Central holding a 7-0 lead.
"That was a huge play," Casey said.
"I just saw the ball," Reed said. "(The Marengo safety) didn't think I was going to go on the outside like that. I just grabbed (the ball) and hoped for the best."
Marengo would never recover; the Indians ensuing two plays both ended in giveaways - a fumble recovery by Mike Reuland and a circus interception by Joe Anger - and the Chargers would parlay both into scores.
Clechenko scored his second touchdown by bowling over a Marengo defender along the right sideline.
"I had to give 100 percent on that play," said Clechenko, who led eight ACC ball-carriers with 40 yards on 8 carries. "We hadn't won a home game in over 1,000 days."
Two plays after the Anger interception, Zach Tobin circled out the Chargers' backfield from his wingback position and snared a 19-yard strike from quarterback Stewart DeWaard in heavy traffic to give ACC a three-score cushion.
"Just like last week, we can't overcome our mistakes," Marengo coach Matthew Lynch said. "This game is all about making plays, and we didn't do that."
Marengo quarterback John Lesiak capped a lengthy opening-quarter drive to begin the second half, but ACC hounded the Indians' signal-caller into a miserable 1-for-12 passing night.
"We put a lot of pressure on them in the backfield," Casey said.