Special teams kicks in to lift Wheaton North to victory against Stevenson in home opener

Run the ball, eat up the clock and score. Then take the ball away. Rinse and repeat.

Wheaton North did just that Friday night, and after a dominant first half, the Falcons knocked off Stevenson 31-13 Friday night to claim their home opener in impressive fashion.

The Falcons marched 80 yards on 15 plays to open the game and take a 7-0 lead following the first of two 1-yard touchdown runs by Mac Murray. But things actually got worse from there for the Patriots (0-2), who fumbled a short pooch kick on the ensuing kickoff. Ryan Chrusciel turned that miscue into 26-yard field goal as the Falcons led 10-0 after one quarter.

But this was only the beginning of a rough special teams night for Stevenson, as the visitors fumbled the next three kickoff returns — managing to recover one -- as the high, short kickoffs by Chrusciel proved too challenging for the visitors. They found themselves in a 31-0 hole at the half.

“It just kept falling into place and my teammates kept getting the ball,” Chrusciel said. “Everything happens for a reason. Especially since this was Senior Night, I am real proud of the way things went for me and the team tonight.”

It was another big ground attack that started things off for the 2-0 Falcons, who ran 14 times on the opening drive. Murray finished the night with 86 yards on the ground and another 36 on two catches, while teammate Blake Melin added 33 yards on the ground and a couple first down runs as the Falcons controlled the clock.

Quarterback Burke Neibch credited his runners and the offensive line with a strong game, but he also managed to throw touchdown passes to Adam Schilling and Drew Mazeska while completing nine of 15 passes for 139 yards.

“That definitely helped,” Neibch said of the three fumble recoveries on kickoffs as well as an interception by Sam Bellini to account for four takeaways. “The kickoff team did a great job. We work on that in practice and they did a great job tonight.”

Because of the turnovers, Stevenson found itself in a 31-0 hole before recording a first down. But the second half was much better as Eli Sigal connected on a pair of long touchdown passes to finish with 206 yards through the air. Luke Clark hauled in a 75-yard pass in the third quarter and Tyler Becker closed the scoring with a 60-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter.

Patriots coach Brett Becker knows his team has enough talent to win ballgames, but they just can’t afford the mistakes they made in the first half.

“We had a couple penalties that hurt us, and with that many turnovers you’re not going to beat anybody,” he said. “Credit Wheaton North. They did a great job in the kicking game. I think we’ll win a lot of games with these kids, but we need to get better quickly.”