Go figure, Warriors run to win

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AURORA -- Waubonsie Valley's offensive attack found a little more balance on Friday.

The Warriors, spurred by the return of running back Chris Harris from a broken collarbone, more than doubled their season rushing total in a 46-21 Upstate Eight Conference win against visiting Elgin.

Harris carried the ball 22 times and picked up 158 yards, including 109 in the first half. Waubonsie (2-3, 2-1 UEC) finished with 225 yards on the ground after picking up 113 through the first four games of the season.

"I thought it was great," Warriors Quarterback Tyler Castro said. "We've relied on the pass all year. Harris came back from an injury and was running hard. That's what we needed. We need a more balanced attack.

"We made progress (last week) against Neuqua (Valley) and now we've made even more progress. Hopefully the rest of the season we have a nice balanced offense and make it work."

Even though he was sharing the workload, Castro still tossed three touchdowns on the night, beginning with a 9-yard strike to Alex Stokowski late in the first quarter to put Waubonsie ahead 7-0.

Elgin (0-5, 0-2) answered with a score on its next drive, but the game belonged to the Warriors the rest of the night.

Waubonsie's next three drives resulted in scores with 1-yard TD runs by Castro and Harris, and a booming 47-yard field goal Mitch Ewald.

After emerging from halftime with a 24-7 lead, the Warriors added on with Castro TD passes of 13 and 7 yards to Mark Szott and Stokowski again, respectively. In between, Waubonsie added a safety when the snap on an Elgin punt try traveled through the back of the end zone.

A 40-7 Warriors lead was shaved to 40-21 before Waubonsie backup Quarterback Ken Clay tossed a 27-yard pass to Scott Kuehn for the final margin after a missed PAT kick.

"We were just going to take what the defense was giving us," Warriors coach Paul Murphy said. "When we saw eight guys in the box, we were going to throw. When we saw six in the box we were going to run."

The win pumps more life into Waubonsie's hopes of making a run at the postseason after an 0-3 start, but Murphy was already cautioning his team of a potentially tough road ahead.