Trojans stay bright in playoff picture

Two teams. Same motivation.

Downers Grove North and Oak Park-River Forest entered Oct. 17's contest in Downers Grove wanting to stay in the playoff hunt.

The Trojans are able to stay on the prowl thanks to a 10-7 win that puts them at 4-4 overall and 3-2 in the West Suburban Silver.

A victory on Oct. 24 at 3-5 Lyons should be enough to push North into the postseason as its playoff points stand at 42 after Week 8 and obviously will go higher after the last weekend of regular-season play.

Game time on Oct. 24 is 7:30 p.m.

"This has been a tough place for us to win," Oak Park coach Jim Nudera said. His team fell to 3-5, 1-4

The Trojans were able to play their type of game, which is to run the football and take advantage of any errors made by the opponent. What turned out to be a huge error came on the first possession of the game.

Oak Park quarterback Elliot Davidson overshot his receiver and the ball was picked off by North defensive back Marco Diaz, who returned it 64 yards untouched down the left sideline for a touchdown. Leo Ellis IV added the extra point to give the Trojans a 7-0 advantage with 9:41 left to play in the first quarter.

All the yardage (195 yards) picked up by the Trojans came on the ground with 46 rushes. North did attempt three passes which all fell incomplete.

North went up 10-0 on the first possession of the second half on a 30-yard field goal by Joseph Claver. The drive took 8:08 off the clock.

The Huskies had their best drive by far of the night after taking over on a punt at their own 5-yard line.

The 95 yards were picked up on six of eight completions by Davidson, who hit Marty Finnegan for a 39-yard touchdown with 7:40 to play in the game.

Kevin Schwartz added the extra point to trim the lead to 10-7. The Huskies had the ball only one more time and the drive stalled at their own 28 after Davidson was sacked.

The Mustangs clinched at least a share of the West Suburban Gold title by winning easily Oct. 17 in Berwyn.

South (6-2, 5-0) clinches the title outright with a victory Oct. 24 at home against 4-4 Leyden.

Game time is 7:30 p.m.

Morton dropped to 1-7, 0-5.

The Broncos (8-0, 6-0 Suburban Catholic) clinched at least a share of the conference championship with this victory Oct. 17 in Elgin.

The league title is all theirs with a win Oct. 25 at home against 7-1 Driscoll. Game time is 1 p.m.

Driscoll and St. Francis are each 5-1 in the SCC going into the regular-season finale.

St. Edward dropped to 3-5, 1-5.

Sun-Times News Group