Neuqua Valley keeps hopes alive

Neuqua Valley knew it had a Streamwood team on its hands hoping to play spoiler, trying to eliminate the Wildcats' chance at a playoff berth Saturday at Millennium Field. In the afternoon matinee the Sabres troubled the Wildcats through the first quarter, when the score was tied at 14 and the game reeked of upset.

Neuqua Valley, though, turned on the burners, scoring 3 touchdowns in the second quarter to keep itself alive for a playoff spot with a 48-21 Upstate Eight Conference win. The Wildcats (4-4, 3-3) are in a must-win situation at home against St. Charles North next Friday.

"It was important to get today to even have a chance next week," Wildcats coach Bryan Wells said. "We put ourselves in position to win next week and we win and we're in, so it's very, very important to get there."

"That was a big win for us," said linebacker Christian Ebel, who had 2 sacks and blocked a punt, leading to a touchdown. "We knew this mattered. Each week we count it as a playoff game."

Neuqua went up 7-0 on a Nathaniel Pena 7-yard run on the first drive, but Noel Rivera fired right back with a 61-yard pass to Derrick King up the middle, who was held to just 37 yards rushing, to tie it. The quarter went back and forth when Alex Lincoln hit Western Michigan-bound Josh Schaffer for a 20-yard touchdown pass to put Neuqua up 14-7. On the next drive Rivera busted a 47-yard run, making 14-14.

Although a shootout looked imminent, Neuqua exploded in the second quarter, expanding the lead to 20 at intermission thanks to Lincoln and Schaffer's second hookup, a 9-yard touchdown pass, and Ebel's punt block, allowing Will Radostits to recover and go 15 yards for the score. Then Lincoln added another touchdown pass to Conner Yearian for 25 yards, making it 34-14.

"They were in a deep cover 3 so the flats were going to open and we could hit them in the seams because they only had one safety over the top," Lincoln said. "We felt we could pick them apart."

Streamwood (1-7, 1-5) looked like a boxer just hanging on against the ropes. Many Sabres came up with injuries but played through, except Noel Rivera, who was forced out with an ankle injury. Before leaving the game in the third quarter, he rushed for a 6-yard touchdown, putting Streamwood within 13. That's as close as they got as Rivera finished with 64 yards rushing and 181 yards passing with a touchdown and an inteception while converting 7 of 14 passes.

"We had a lot of kids banged up. Their physical ability kind of caught up with us and wore us down," Sabres coach Cal Cummins said.