Waubonsie Valley cashes in on turnovers
ROSELLE -- Waubonsie Valley's football team knew that even if it lost Friday's Upstate Eight Conference game against Lake Park, it could still win next week against East Aurora to become playoff-eligible.
However, the Warriors did not want to take that chance.
(Mary Beth Nolan/For The Sun-Times News Group)
Waubonsie forced four turnovers, converting all of them into points, in taking down the UEC-leading Lancers in convincing fashion, 36-14 on Friday.
"Now we're playoff-eligible and we can win next week to guarantee a playoff spot," Waubonsie coach Paul Murphy said. "If we lost this game, yeah, we could win next week and go 5-4, but we may or may not get in. Right now there aren't very many teams with four losses in the state. It's harder and harder to think that you're going to get into the playoffs at 5-4. I don't want to take that chance."
Down 7-6 early in the second quarter, Waubonsie (5-3, 4-2 UEC) got its first break on a spectacular interception from Derek Mickelson. On the next play, Kenny Clay connected with Scott Kuehn from 28 yards out and the duo converted a 2-point conversion to make it 14-7.
Lake Park (6-2, 5-1) tied it on its ensuing possession, but a bad snap on a sloppy field on a punt attempt by the Lancers after the Warriors forced a three-and-out later in the quarter provided yet another break. Rickey Simpson emerged from the pile in the end zone with the ball to give the Warriors a 20-14 lead to take into the half. The Warriors never trailed again.
"The defense created some good options for us and gave us an opportunity to score," Kuehn said. "Rickey falling on the ball in the end zone was obviously huge. The turnovers they created gave us a good chance to score and made it a great game for us."
A fumble recovery from Jalen Love in the third led to a 12-yard strike from Clay to tight end Mark Szott that pushed the lead to 26-14. The Lancers then fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Devon Morgan came up with it. Three plays later, Kuehn hit a 41-yard field goal to put the game out of reach.
"We played in this muck in St. Charles and they fumbled eight times and we lost," Murphy said. "We had opportunities to get them and we didn't. We weren't very optimistic. Yesterday when we found out it was going to be a muddy field, we talked about protecting the ball and being opportunistic on defense."
The Warriors are now 3-2 against playoff teams this season, the only two losses coming in heartbreaking fashion to Naperville Central and St. Charles North. Now, the Warriors can stake their claim as one of those playoff teams.
"We knew this game was big for us," Kuehn said. "Our scout players were going hard this week. It was really important for us to get a win this week against a good team like them. It's a big win for us."
