Waubonsie Valley wins 5th in a row

Waubonsie Valley won its fifth consecutive game to all-but clinch a state playoff berth with one game left in the regular season.

"We were 0-3 to start the season," said Waubonsie coach Paul Murphy. "We weren't playing varsity speed. The last five weeks we've been practicing game speed and it's paid off."

Waubonsie Valley (5-3, 4-1 Upstate Eight Conference) crushed South Elgin (2-6, 1-4) for a 45-19 football victory Friday night.

The Storm had taken the initial lead as quarterback Patrick Rae found Shawn Ryan for a 60-yard touchdown pass on the third play from scrimmage.

But the Warriors came back with a strong run game as Waubonsie went on a 38-6 run from there to take a 38-12 lead into halftime.

Tre Clark scored his first of 3 touchdown runs on Waubonsie's first drive with a 2-yard TD. He carried the ball for 149 yards with a 1-yard TD run in the second quarter and again and third.

"Our offensive line, all of them just stuck to the block," Clark said. "Our run game stepped up and took advantage of what the offensive line was doing."

The Warriors stuck to the run most of the game collecting 247 yards on the ground while quarterback Tyler Castro added a 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

Castro also threw two TD passes with a 27-yarder and a 56-yarder both to Mark Hilgers in the first and second quarters, respectively.

For the Storm size was the difference as the South Elgin running backs were only able to gain 22 yards on the ground.

"(Waubonsie was) really tough up front," South Elgin coach Dale Schabert said. "But I have to give the guys credit. They weren't quitting."

Rae finished the game 15 of 32 with 274 yards and Josh Smith caught 2 TD passes, a 27-yarder in the second and 29-yarder in the fourth.

Mtich Ewald added a 32-yard field goal for the Warriors.