Mistake-free Aurora Christian bounces back
Ask Aurora Christian coach Don Beebe the key to a game. Any game. The answer remains the same.
"It really comes down to turnovers," he said once again Saturday. "You just can't turn the ball over."
A week after 3 interceptions hurt the Eagles in their first loss of the season, against Walther Lutheran on Saturday quarterback Anthony Maddie threw for 295 yards and 3 touchdowns without a pick.
On the other side of the ball Aurora Christian recovered 2 fumbles and made 2 interceptions in a 45-20 victory that bumped them to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the Suburban Christian Conference's Blue division.
Aurora Christian allowed leads of 18-6 and 25-13 slip to a point where Walther Lutheran (2-2, 0-2) nudged within 25-20 midway through the third quarter, and had the ball.
Then Mitch Holtz - more about him later - sacked Walther quarterback Sean Cotton. The ball popped loose and Quienten Boston recovered for Aurora Christian. Aurora Christian scored on its next three possessions to put that game away - all on Holtz rushing touchdowns toward center Dean Parr, right guard Todd Clapp and right tackle Sam Miller.
"They simply executed better than we, no question about it," said Walther offensive line coach Steve Heuser, filling in for Broncos head coach Bruce Tuomi, who has a lacerated spleen.
"That's been a trademark of Don's teams once he got it turned around," Heuser said. "Physically we're a great match with them, they just execute."
Clapp also recovered a fumble, and Aurora Christian got picks by Ryan Suttle and Cory Windle, a sophomore safety who in the frosh-soph game scored 4 touchdowns with an interception.
Walther Lutheran's Northwestern-bound quarterback Cotton showed his skills midway through the second quarter when he moved to receiver, caught a pass from Anthony Garland and sprinted down the left sideline for a 73-yard touchdown catch-and-run that pulled Walther within 18-13.
Holtz answered with the first of his 4 touchdowns on a 17-yard run for a 25-13 Eagles lead 2:06 before halftime, The 6-foot-1, 205-pound junior finished with 19 carries for 140 yards.
Parr said, "We didn't play to our greatest last week, and it was really nice to have a lot of rushing yards this week. I really feel like now we can take a bigger step forward."
Add Maddie's 104 yards rushing - spin moves, jukes, sharp cuts, bounces, even what Beebe termed an Elway-esque "Superman" dive toward the end zone - plus Chad Beebe's 8 catches for 131 yards and touchdown grabs by Chad Beebe, Brandon Mayes and Andrew Cassara. This is what Don Beebe envisions.
"There's been years where we've had a 1,000-yard rusher and a 2,000-, 3,000-yard passer," the coach said. "I want that - I want that ratio."
In one fell swoop, Holtz exceeded his season total of 120 yards. Maddie couldn't say enough about him.
"He showed us things that we've never seen before out of him," Maddie said. "And he's just such a good guy, he's a good leader. When you see him doing well it gets the whole team up. He's such good kid, such a good guy to everybody on the team, and he's always rooting for everybody else, so everybody gets behind him when he's doing well."