Aurora Christian hopes to overcome injuries
“The ship moves on,” Aurora Christian coach Don Beebe said earlier this week.
He didn’t solely mean the Eagles advancing to a Class 3A quarterfinal football game, 6 p.m. Saturday in Aurora.
In a pileup early in the No. 1 seed Eagles’ 34-21 second-round victory over Oregon they lost linebacker Mitch Holtz to a knee injury, the second key player lost to injury in these playoffs. Offensive lineman R.J. Morris went down also with a knee injury in Aurora Christian’s win over Kewanee.
Holtz, who entered the Oregon game with a team-high 100 tackles as he ranged from sideline to sideline, was a team leader motivated this postseason by coming up short in the 2008 4A title game. A three-year starter, Holtz was a freshman on that team, the only player from this year’s team to have played in that championship game.
Holtz’s experience, drive and talent is hard to replace.
““I would hate to say it’s the equivalent to losing an Anthony Maddie on offense, but it’s close,” Beebe said.
As he noted, though, the ship moves on. Inserting usual lineman Julian Sosa in Holtz’s spot and leaning a little heavier on others like linebacker Kenny McCracken and free safety Brandon Mayes, Aurora Christian (10-1) aims to thwart No. 3 Winnebago (9-2). The Indians bounced Aurora Christian in a 2009 3A first-round game, 28-14.
“We want to control the line of scrimmage and run the football and throw it on our terms. We like to mix it up,” said Winnebago coach Mark Helm, whose Indians advanced with a 14-7 overtime victory over Wilmington.
To that affect, Winnebago quarterback Dylan Daub’s touchdown pass to running back Michael Pate was the game-winner over Winnebago. Also the free safety, Daub has completed 76 of 139 passes for 1,053 yards, 14 touchdowns and 3 interceptions, and has run for 411 yards.
Daub passed the ball a reported 21 times against Wilmington, and his top target is Derek Polkowski (28 catches, 395 yards), who Beebe called the best tight end Aurora Christian has seen.
In an effort to keep the ball away from Maddie on offense, Winnebago will primarily try to pound the ball out of its I-formation base with 6-foot-3, 210-pound fullback Kolton Kuczynski and backs Pate and Jimmy Turcato. The three have run for 860, 516 and 403 yards, respectively.
“We’re going to have to get a few defensive stops and move the ball on offense and be efficient when we have it, because we don’t know how many times we’re going to have opportunities,” said Helm, who called Daub’s winning 2-point conversion run in Winnebago’s 30-29 first-round victory over Immaculate Conception.
Aurora Christian beat IC 35-28 on a late 36-yard touchdown pass from Maddie to Cory Windle. Beebe depicts IC and Winnebago as similar in that both their offenses center around a quarterback who can both run and pass.
Few, however, have thrown the ball with the skill or numbers of Maddie. The 6-foot-2 Western Michigan recruit has completed 182 of 299 passes (61 percent) for 3,243 yards and 43 touchdowns, tied for eighth with Kaneland’s Boone Thorgesen according to Illinois High School Association single-season records.
Windle, who caught a key 49-yard touchdown pass against Oregon, is up to 51 catches for 1,183 yards, 17 touchdowns. Windle, Mayes, Chad Beebe and brothers Grayson and Noel Roberts threaten to stretch Winnebago’s 5-2 defense far and wide. Helm hopes his top linemen, Todd Campbell and Drevon Armstrong, can put a rush on Maddie while maintaining outside contain.
If not, Aurora Christian’s ship stands a good chance of sailing into its first state semifinal since that 2008 runner-up season.
“This Winnebago team is a very physical team, probably going all the way back to the physicality of Montini, Stillman Valley-type of players. They’re not very big but we’re not either,” Don Beebe said.
“It’s going to be a matchup of two really good teams that are very similar. I say this all the time, but it’s going to come down to who turns the ball over the least. It’s going to be a close battle.”