West Aurora blanks Elgin
Mother Nature may have played havoc with the West Aurora vs. Elgin football game on Friday, but before the torrential rains and lightning brought a halt to the contest the Blackhawks' twin power pack of Daquan and Davion Cross provided some fireworks of their own.
The brother running back combo combined for 3 touchdown runs to lift West Aurora to a rain shortened 30-0 victory over the Maroons at Memorial Field in Elgin.
After a lengthy delay the game was called with 3:01 left to play in the second quarter, but both teams agreed not to have the game continued and it will go down as an official victory for the Blackhawks, who improve to 2-2. The game had been moved up 2 hours to try and avoid the approaching storm system.
"The circumstances didn't matter," West Aurora coach Nate Elmer said. "This was a must-win for us and we came to do what we had to do. Getting back to 2-2 puts us back in a position to make a run at the playoffs."
Daquan Cross opened the game with a 33-yard run. Three plays later he scored on a 7-yard run. He added a 1-yard touchdown run later in the quarter that made it 17-0. He finished with 53 yards on 7 carries.
Davion Cross played a bigger role in the offense than he has in the first 3 weeks and made the most of his opportunity. He had an 89-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and finished with 120 yards on 5 carries.
"Great to see us both be able to get into the end zone," said DaQuan Cross. "We always push each other to be better. This was a big win for us to get some momentum to keep driving forward."
Drake Spears added a 9-yard touchdown run for the Blackhawks, who amassed 245 yards on the ground in the short period of time. Quintez Jones added 51 yards on 6 carries.
"One thing you can be sure West Aurora is going to do is run the ball," Elmer said. "We wanted to establish that identity tonight. The Cross brothers were great and we got some nice contributions from the other guys too."
The Blackhawks' defense stuffed the Elgin offense, which had minus 10 total yards. The Maroons had 12 of their 21 plays go for losses.
"We played fast and lined up in the right spots," Elmer said. "Everybody was swarming to the football."
The Maroons (0-4) were without their starting quarterback Terrance Miller Allen and top receiver Lavion Baldwin because of disciplinary issues.
"Through all the chaos with the time change and not having some of our starting guys I told the rest of them this was a chance to show their character," Elgin coach Anthony Mason said. "And they didn't do it. Hopefully they can learn to do that. We are not a bad team, we just need to do all the things it takes to give ourselves a chance to win. And right now we are just not giving ourselves a chance."