Stevenson outlasts Warren in 2 OTs
The Warren varsity football team had t-shirts made up for this week's showdown with rival Stevenson with the letters A.O.W. printed on them in large black text.
The acronym stands for All Out War.
Stevenson's gutsy, 24-21 double-overtime, North Suburban Lake victory Friday night over host Warren was exactly that.
"It was a war out there," said Stevenson coach Bill McNamara. "It was a battle. They have great athletes, we have great athletes. It's a fight every single play."
No battle was bigger than the second overtime period that ended when Stevenson (3-1, 2-0) senior quarterback and kicker Matt Micucci drilled an 18-yard field goal to end the game.
Micucci had a hand, or foot, in every single Stevenson point on the night. He rushed for 2 touchdowns, threw for another, kicked the game-winning field goal and all 3 extra points.
The Division-I college kicking recruit has had no trouble taking on all that responsibility.
"The team needs me as a quarterback, so right now I'm a quarterback first," said Micucci.
Trailing 14-6 with 3:47 left in the game, the Blue Devils (0-4, 0-2) took the ball over on their own 23. Over the next three minutes, Warren junior quarterback Adam Reuss (16-for-35 passing, 160 yards) engineered a 77-yard scoring drive culminating in the Blue Devils' third fourth-down attempt of the night.
After the first two failed, including a stifling goal-line stand by Stevenson, Reuss found junior Connor Iwema (3 receptions for 28 yards) in the slot for a touchdown.
On the 2-point conversion attempt, junior Kyle Gregory hauled in a deflected pass to tie the game and send it into overtime.
"Those are big momentum-builders, or they can really take the wind out of your sail," said Warren coach Dave Mohapp of his team's fourth-down attempts.
After scoring on the first attempt in overtime, Warren started the second overtime on offense. Davonte Wilcox (116 yards on 28 carries) pushed forward for 5 yards on first down, and on second down Reuss waited a second too long to deliver the ball on a slant and it was intercepted by Stevenson's Dominykas Bickus.
"We're fine," said Reuss. "We'll come back."