West Aurora has big night at West Chicago
After struggling against the top of the DuPage Valley Conference, West Aurora was ready for a night like this.
“It was good,” Blackhawks coach Nate Eimer said after his team’s 41-0 victory at West Chicago on Friday. “We had a tough stretch there of five games going through the DVC against really good football teams. I thought West Chicago did some good things before tonight.”
The Wildcats (1-7, 1-5) were coming off a victory, but they suffered a letdown on senior night.
“They kicked our butt in every facet of the game and we weren’t ready to play tonight,” Wildcats coach Paul Reinke said. “We started out slow, and defensively we didn’t tackle very well tonight at all. We got the one stop and the punt kind of hurt us and it snowballed after that. Honestly, we just didn’t come ready to play tonight.”
West Aurora (3-5, 1-5) scored on its fifth play from scrimmage when senior quarterback Curtis Townsend connected on an 18-yard touchdown pass to Nathan Zinzer.
West Chicago stopped West Aurora on the Blackhawks’ next possession, but the Wildcats’ muffed the punt, giving the Blackhawks the football on their 1-yard line. Shon Enochs scored to make the score 14-0.
On the next drive Zinzer scored on a 20-yard TD pass virtually identical to his first.
“It was a run play and then we made a bubble read,” the senior receiver said. “They called it both times. Basically, deja vu, it was the exact same thing. The receivers blocked inside, outside. I went right down the middle.”
“He’s really picked it up the last three weeks,” Eimer said of Zinzer. “We really tried to get him more touches, and he got us going. When he does that on the outside it opens it up for Booker Ross and Shon Enoch to run inside. He got us going. He’s really been our leader on offense most of the year, along with (senior lineman) Austin Beebe. They did a nice job tonight.”
Ross rushed for 193 yards on 12 carries, including a 94-yard TD. Enochs added 98 yards on 11 carries.
“I thought those two did a great job of running hard, but how about the O line?” Eimer asked. “I mean a really great job. We only had one returning starter from last year, and those guys have gotten better and better every week.”
Fullback Nick Sanzeri was a workhorse for West Chicago, carrying the ball 25 times for 149 yards.
“He ran hard like he always does,” Reinke said. “He ran hard like he always does. He’s a good kid, he busts his butt, and on offense he was a bright spot on a night when there wasn’t many bright spots.”