Without Williams, Libertyville coasts to first-round playoff victory against Noble/Muchin

Libertyville barely got its engine warmed up Saturday.

But it still proved to be more than enough for the Wildcats as they rolled over Noble/Muchin 61-0 in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs in Libertyville.

The No. 4 seed Wildcats (8-2), who have won eight in a row, will host Notre Dame at 1 p.m. Nov. 7. Notre Dame, seeded 12th in the Northern bracket, beat Grant 43-16 Friday night to advance.

Libertyville will most likely be without superb tight end Brock Williams, who sat out Saturday’s game. Williams, committed to Texas, injured his left shoulder in the Wildcats’ final regular-season game.

“For now, we are going with week to week,” Libertyville coach Tim Budge said. “But yeah, he's been out. Hopefully, we can get him back at some point. Hopefully, we keep winning, and maybe we get him back at some point.”

On Saturday Libertyville scored just 44 seconds into the game.

The Wildcats didn’t slow down until 8:32 remained in the first half. That’s when Libertyville scored for the seventh consecutive time that they had the ball to make it 48-0. Both coaches and the officials agreed to an early running clock.

“You know playing nine weeks of football in our conference, plus our nonconference schedule, is tough and it's physically tough,” Budge said. “So to get some rest and get some guys back from injury was huge. I think we did a nice job. We only played the first quarter with a lot of starters. But once they were in there, they executed well.”

Aiden Weaver, who got the Wildcats started thanks to a 10-yard touchdown run, said it was great to be back on a game field after a bye last week.

“It was phenomenal,” said Weaver, who had four carries for 53 yards. “We put in a lot of preparation last week. And we were all itching to get back on the field.”

Libertyville got a 42-yard punt return from Reid Williams. Then quarterback Jackson Yarc had touchdown runs of 32 and three yards and tossed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Keagan Martin to make it 34-0 with 4:53 left in the first quarter.

“The job out here is to take every play seriously,” Yarc said. “There are no off plays. In a game like this, it’s not like we are playing another team, we think of it as playing ourselves.”

Sophomore Whittaker Burton came in and threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Cole Kalinowski. Aaron Gordon added a five-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to make it 48-0 and the clock never stopped from there.

Libertyville added second-half touchdowns on a 76-yard fumble return by Alex Nerroth. It was set up by a punch-out by Luke Fisher. Gordon later cranked out an 84-yard run for the game’s final score.

Libertyville’s defense, which forced three turnovers, did not allow a first down in the first half.

Linebacker Kaden Butt, who played in both seasons on Libertyville’s two-time state championship baseball team, said he sees his football team following the same path as the baseball team.

“I am expecting big things from our football team,” Butt said. “We could go far with this team. We have a great squad, and we keep producing week after week.”