Aurora Christian makes history
The Aurora Christian football program has accomplished quite a bit in the last few years.
It has had all-state players and made a couple of nice runs deep into the state playoffs -- but one thing the Eagles have never been able to do is defeat Private School League rival Walther Lutheran.
In this, the 10th year of the program, that finally changed Saturday at Marmion. Aurora Christian used a balanced attack on offense and made a couple of huge goal-line stands to come away with a 30-15 victory.
After quarterback Jordan Roberts scored on a 34-yard touchdown run on the game's opening drive, the Eagles defense made a statement that this year the Broncos (5-2, 3-1) would not run them over. On a fourth-and-goal from the 3, Tommy Velasquez and Michael Friend stopped Miami of Ohio bound running back Dan Green short of the goal line.
Later in the game, the Broncos again were on the Eagles doorstep but Green was stripped of the ball and Friend recovered at the 3-yard line.
"Last year, teams would get to the goal line and our guys got down," said Aurora Christian safety/running back John Smith. "This year if they get close to our end zone we get pumped up."
"Our defense stepped it up," said Eagles coach Don Beebe. "We are so physical and so fast, we have 11 athletes out there. When you have that and they are willing to come up and rally and hit people, that is the biggest difference in years past, our defense is just much better."
After the initial stop, Roberts led the Eagles on a drive that ate up almost eight minutes and culminated in a play that seemed to show that maybe it was the Eagles' day.
Roberts hit Matt Morse coming across the middle for a first down inside the 10-yard line, but Morse was popped and fumbled. The ball bounced forward into the end zone where Eagles wide received Joe Redmond fell on it for a touchdown and a 16-0 lead at halftime.
After a first half in which Roberts put the ball in the air 19 times, Aurora Christian (7-0, 3-0) came out and ran the ball almost exclusively in the second half. Smith and Sean O'Boyle split the bulk of the carries but Roberts kept it quite a few times himself, winding up with 63 rushing yards on 16 carries on his 17th birthday.
"He is a quarterback that has learned to beat you with his arm, his legs and by just being a smart kid,' said Beebe. "When you can get a quarterback that is like a coach on the field that is huge. If he is seeing the same things you are seeing as a coach, that is such a huge advantage."
O'Boyle and Smith each added short touchdown runs in the second half that put the game out of reach and allowed this Eagles team to make school history.
"The feeling is unbelievable right now," said Smith. "We've had a football program for 10 years and the seniors have been working towards this our whole career so this is just huge for us. The feeling is amazing, it is like we just won a playoff game."
"It's the biggest victory in ACS history," said Beebe. "It is something nobody can ever take away from these kids. They are the first ACS team to beat Walther."