Like a fella once said ...

Waubonsie Valley quarterback Tyler Castro threw for 217 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions against Naperville Central last week.
(Terence Guider-Shaw/Special to The Sun)

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

Bright and early Saturday morning, Waubonsie Valley coach Paul Murphy popped in the tape of the Warriors' 24-14 loss to Naperville Central, giving his bleary-eyed players only a night's rest to digest their disastrous season-opening loss.

Focus was the word of the day and the theme of this week's practices.

The Warriors committed 20 penalties for 137 yards and suffered all night from terrible field position and special teams gaffes. Following the game Aug. 29, Murphy vowed to whip his young team into shape.

So far, so good.

"It's been night and day (in) our practices this week compared to the last two weeks," he said. "They understand now. It's like they needed a kick in the head to wake up."

And the Warriors will need to be bright eyed and bushy tailed when they head to Crystal Lake to face Class 6A Prairie Ridge at 7:45 tonight.

Don't let the 8A-6A matchup fool you - the Wolves are a strong team.

Last season, Prairie Ridge went unbeaten in the Fox Valley (Fox) Conference and felt the sting of its only loss in the postseason, falling to Lemont in the Class 6A quarterfinals.

Although the Wolves graduated star running back Sam Campbell, they still have offensive firepower, mainly in the form of returning quarterback and three-year varsity starter Bryan Bradshaw.

Last season Bradshaw completed 85 of 155 passes for 1,376 yards and 13 touchdowns. The 6-foot-2-inch, 175-pound senior also rushed for 292 yards last season and is receiving recruiting interest from Big Ten schools such as Northwestern and Purdue.

Fullback Kevin Keener, who rushed for 522 yards in 2007, also returns along with explosive junior running back Justin Henderson. Henderson returned a 99-yard kickoff for a touchdown in the Wolves' 38-6 win over Harper last week.

Forcing opponents into an uptempo dance was one of the Warriors' biggest strengths last season. But in Friday's opener, Waubonsie appeared to be crawling through sludge during some of their its drives.

Murphy and his staff also worked hard on getting better leverage out of their special teams. Waubonsie averaged just 5 yards on punt returns and 14.6 on kickoff returns Aug. 29.

The Warriors did have bright spots and Murphy pointed them out in his Saturday meeting. Certainly, holding onto the ball was one of them along with two goal-line stands that prevented Central from scoring.

Despite at times needing to scramble past defenders, Warriors quarterback Tyler Castro played an impressive game without a single interception.

Castro, a three-year varsity starter, threw for 217 yards and one touchdown.

The Warriors are likely to throw the ball a lot this season given the talent of Castro and a receiving corps that includes Mark Hilgers (seven catches, 103 yards), Alex Stokowski (three catches, 39 yards) and Scott Kuehn (six catches, 70 yards, one touchdown).

Prairie Ridge will need a strong pass defense to limit the Warriors' offensive attack. For now, Murphy's not entirely sure what Wolves coach Chris Schremp has up his sleeve, but he's looking forward to it.

"It'll be interesting to see what the chess game is that we'll be playing," he said.

Indiana-bound kicker Mitch Ewald will sit out this week with a sprained shoulder after tackling Central's Kalen Petty during a punt return for a touchdown. Kuehn will handle the kicking duties for the Warriors.

Ewald is being held out as a precaution and should return in Week 3 if all goes well with his recovery.

Fans will have to wait at least another week to see sophomore Owen Saldana make his debut at middle linebacker.

After recovering from a sprained ankle, Saldana tweaked his knee in practice. The injury is not season ending, but he will sit out against Prairie Ridge tonight.