Callaway, Aurora Christian score late to edge Wheaton Academy in ‘fantastic high school football game’

Watching game films of Jalen Callaway reveals a football player with the ability to find the end zone from just about any portion of the field.

Watching Callaway in person has a similar effect.

Callaway, Aurora Christian’s junior running back/kick returner, put on another impressive show Friday night during the Eagles’ 32-27 Chicagoland Christian victory over Wheaton Academy (6-2, 4-2) in West Chicago.

Thirty-six seconds after the Warriors grabbed their first lead of the night, 27-26, on quarterback Colton Miller’s one-yard touchdown plunge with 1:37 left, the Eagles (7-1, 5-1) had an answer.

Taking over on their own 36, it took the Eagles four plays to score the go-ahead touchdown on Jesus ‘Juju’ Vasquez’s 47-yard strike to Callaway with 1:01 remaining.

“I knew I had to come through — people depend on me,” said Callaway, who rushed for 113 yards on 11 carries while catching five passes for 98 yards. “I love my team.”

The Warriors marched all the way to the red zone in the final seconds before Miller’s fourth-and-goal pass from the 12 fell incomplete in the end zone.

“That was a fantastic high school football game,” said Eagles coach David Beebe. “I can’t say about our guys. We took a few punches to the jaw but we came through in the end. We needed a game like this.”

Callaway, who touched the ball five times in the first half, accounting for 80 yards of offense, caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Vasquez to give the Eagles a 20-7 lead with 31 seconds left in the second quarter.

Wheaton Academy answered quickly, as Miller (18 of 33, 328 yards) connected with Joseph From on an 80-yard touchdown strike with 18 seconds remaining in the opening half to pull within six at 20-14.

Callaway is not the only game breaker for the Eagles. Aurora Christian sophomore Luke Baumann (9 carries, 111 yards) took a direct snap and raced 56 yards to the end zone for the game’s first score.

Following a three-and-out defensive series, the Eagles marched 70 yards in five plays, capped by Vasquez’s 37-yard touchdown pass to Carson Moreno for a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Wheaton Academy got on the board with a methodical 14-play, 80-yard drive capped by Miller’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Eli Cherry to trim the deficit to 14-7.

Warriors tight end Logan Oros finished with 11 catches for 104 yards.