Neuqua finishes off Downers South
In six previous playoff appearances Neuqua Valley won only two first-round games.
Trent Snyder like all his teammates was sick of hearing about it.
"For a long time Neuqua's been known for not being able to finish a game," the senior running back said. "It just gives us more and more incentive to prove everyone wrong and come out and say we can finish a football game."
Neuqua Valley finished Friday's football game with an exclamation point.
Two touchdowns in the final seven minutes rallied the Wildcats to a 36-22 victory over host Downers South in a Class 8A playoff opener.
Neuqua Valley (7-3), seeded 11th, will play at home next week against No. 3 Mt. Carmel (8-2), a 55-27 winner over Bolingbrook. The teams likely will play their second-round game at 7 p.m. Friday in Naperville.
Consecutive fourth-quarter touchdowns and 2-point conversions by Josh Williams put the sixth-seeded Mustangs (7-3) ahead 22-21 with 8 minutes, 40 seconds left.
Neuqua Valley responded on its next possession with a 10-yard touchdown run by Snyder, who had 36 carries for 216 yards and 4 touchdowns. A 2-point pass from Jeff Samuel to Snyder gave the Wildcats a 29-22 lead.
On the next play from scrimmage, Downers South quarterback A.J. Simoncelli had his pass batted in the air at the line of scrimmage and Wildcats lineman Leif Munson juggled and came down with the ball for a nifty interception.
Snyder scored from 16 yards out on the next play to put the Wildcats ahead 36-22 with 6:08 left.
"It felt like it was in the air for at least 15 or 20 seconds," Munson said. "I had to really focus there. We're all about just stopping guys whenever we can. We don't let up."
Simoncelli opened the scoring with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Oruche late in the first quarter. The 6-0 lead didn't last long, however, as the Wildcats answered with Samuel's 21-yard scoring pass to Shane Langton.
Neuqua Valley dominated the second quarter by scoring touchdowns on all three possessions. Snyder scored on a 19-yard run and added a 6-yard run to extend the margin to 21-6 just before halftime.
After looking like the Wildcats might roll to victory, the 2 touchdowns by Williams, who rushed for 58 yards on 15 carries, set Neuqua Valley on its heels in the fourth quarter.
"You would have thought we were down 40 to nothing the way it was on our sideline there for a moment," said Wildcats coach Bryan Wells. "But just no quit in us. We have a tremendous senior group that's provided awesome leadership all year long. They provide that resiliency for us."
Friday's loss capped an up-and-down season for the Mustangs, who won the West Suburban Gold title despite struggling through a slew of injuries.
"Normally when we get a team in that position, we finish the deal," Mustangs coach John Belskis said of his team's 22-21 fourth-quarter lead. "Not one game did we have all our players out there this season, but our kids put themselves in a position to win every game. They did that again tonight."