Neuqua Valley pushes Elgin backward

Elgin and Neuqua Valley usually seemed to be going toward the same goal line Friday night in Naperville, and that was a good thing for Neuqua Valley.

The Wildcats defense forced Elgin backward most of the night in a 28-0 Neuqua Valley victory, putting the Maroons in countless long-distance situations.

"They handled us pretty well," Elgin coach Dave Bierman said. "Inside, outside, throwing. Not much left. Up front they did a nice job. We couldn't get the passing game going to get them off our backs. They had a lot of guys up in the box. I thought we could beat them off the edge, but we couldn't do that either."

Elgin (3-6, 3-3 Upstate Eight Conference) totaled 3 yards of offense on the slick, muddy field - 32 yards passing against minus-29 yards rushing.

"It was a good way to close out our season, that's for sure," Neuqua Valley linebacker T.J. Rhattigan, who had 3 first-half sacks. "It was a fun game."

Neuqua Valley also finished 3-6 overall, 3-3 in the UEC.

"I'm not happy about the overall season and where we're at," Neuqua Valley coach Bryan Wells said, "but it was very gratifying to come out tonight, on senior night, and play a good ballgame. I think we were dominant enough to make sure the victory was ours from the get-go, so that was good, and we got a lot of seniors on the field throughout the second half."

The Wildcats had set some goals for the game defensively, including getting a shutout, holding Elgin to less than 100 yards and not giving up a third-down conversion.

"And I think the two conversions came on fourth down," Wells said.

Offensively, quarterback/running back Joey Ippolito scored on touchdown runs of 6 and 9 yards in the first quarter and 34 yards in the third. Robert Herzberger's 9-yard TD run in the fourth quarter sealed the win.

Neuqua Valley never punted in the game, but 4 turnovers did keep the scoring down.

"There were some miscues on offense, but it's a mighty slick field," Wells said. "You're going to have those at times. We just stopped ourselves more than what they did."