WW South earns its first semifinal berth since 2011

Normal Community West had averaged nearly 45 points a game this football season, but it was Wheaton Warrenville South that hit that number Saturday while the Tigers defense clamped down.

No. 6 seed WW South beat No. 2 Normal West 45-20 in a Class 6A quarterfinal game in Wheaton to advance to their 15th semifinal and first since 2011.

“It’s a special moment, for sure. I’m really proud of being a part of this community and this program that has such a great tradition,” said WW South coach Sean Norris, whose Tigers will face deceptive No. 20 seed Nazareth, a 62-21 winner over No. 9 Quincy.

“We set our expectations high, and that goes back to coach (John) Thorne and coach (Ron) Muhitch that laid the foundation,” Norris said.

It might be a costly win for WW South (9-3). After completing 12 of 15 passes for 118 yards and a touchdown plus a 6-yard touchdown run, at halftime honorable mention all-state quarterback A.J. Rogers left Grange Field to seek treatment for an undisclosed injury.

“We don’t know exactly what it is,” Norris said. “I just think he got hit, hit hard.”

Steven Harvey, the 6-foot-4 junior receiver who opened the scoring on Rogers’ 14-yard touchdown pass at 4:40 of the first quarter, relieved his junior teammate.

Taking his first snaps at quarterback this season, Harvey gave the Tigers a 28-6 halftime lead on a 4-yard run behind linemen Andrew Bourne, Robbie Kweiser and Tate Kedzior.

Harvey added a 34-yard touchdown run off tackle Caden Schwichtenberg’s kickout block for a 35-6 lead at 3:31 of the third quarter.

“When A.J. went down, they told me, just step up, I need you to step up,” said Harvey, who ran for 105 yards.

“I trust the line, I trust everybody blocking, that was just great,” he said. “Once I settled, got comfortable, first big run I knew it was going to be a great half the rest of the way and we were just going to pull it through.”

Normal West (10-2) looked comfortable early, sailing downfield on the game’s first possession. But at WW South’s 15-yard line the Wildcats couldn’t connect on Chase Sennett’s pass into the end zone, and defensive tackle Zach Turner ended the threat with a fourth-down sack.

“Our goal was the front seven to stop the run, make them one-dimensional, make them throw the ball. Once we do that we were just getting coverage sack after coverage sack thanks to our (defensive backs),” said Turner, who had two of the Tigers’ four sacks, joining defensive end Ben Menzer and a combination sack by Menzer and end Alec Maletich.

Josiah De Jesus and Eric Hecker added interceptions for the Tigers.

Turner also blocked Normal West’s extra-point kick after the Wildcats drew within 7-6 late in the first quarter on Sennett’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Marceon Williams.

“We had opportunities, we just didn’t convert when we needed to,” said Normal West coach Nathan Fincham. “It’s a really good football team, and when you play teams like that you’ve got to play well.”

The Tigers — showing trickery during a 21-point second quarter on Rogers’ lateral pass to Blake Ittersagen, who threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Keenan Yarbrough — executed defensive coordinator Sam VanHeest’s plan against all-state running back Cody Muhlbauer.

WW South limited Muhlbauer to 63 yards on 11 carries, well below his average of 129 yards a game.

“Our goal this week was to make them one-dimensional and make them have to pass the ball,” said Tigers all-state linebacker Clark Jensen, a one-two punch with linebacker Reid Adler.

“Because we knew we could stop their run, and we knew if could make them pass the ball then that’s advantage Tigers,” Jensen said.