Warriors on track to UEC title

Tom Lund (91) of Waubonsie Valley makes a leg tackle of Lake Park running back Chris Jasinski as teammates Cory Connolly (47) and Mike Lyons (right) move in to assist during the Warriors' 26-7 win over Lake Park on Friday night at Waubonsie Valley.
Jon Cunningham / Special to The Sun

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AURORA -- As the final players were trickling out of the Waubonsie Valley field house, Tyler Castro talked about the Warriors' passing attack.

He talked about how diversified the attack is, how he has multiple weapons to throw to, how they can utilize the short-range, mid-range and long-range plays when needed. He talked about how that had just helped Waubonsie in its 26-7 win over Lake Park on Friday night.

Just then one of Castro's teammates burst out of the locker room, shouting.

"Castro! Neuqua beat St. Charles East in overtime!"

A few whoops and hollers followed as the Warriors suddenly found themselves in a second-place tie with the Saints in the Upstate Eight Conference. Should UEC-leading Bartlett stumble against Neuqua on Friday and the Warriors win their remaining two conference games, Waubonsie would earn a share of the UEC title for the second year in a row.

That's a world of difference from where the Warriors (3-3, 3-1 UEC) had been less than a month ago. It was that short time ago the Warriors were staring at an 0-3 record - not the ideal place to be looking.

"Our coaches always preach about breaking our season into thirds, and obviously the first third didn't go the way we wanted," said Castro, who was 19-of-27 passing for 246 yards and three touchdowns against the Lancers. "The second third went perfect - couldn't have gone any better. Now we just have to keep it going for the final third."

The Warriors' effort against the Lancers (1-5, 1-3) was a microcosm of their turnaround. They started slowly, falling behind 7-0 and trailing 7-6 at halftime. But a Castro-to-Scott Kuehn touchdown pass in the third quarter put the Warriors ahead for good at 12-7.

Mark Hilgers caught two more Castro touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to cement the victory for Waubonsie, which won despite having its recently revitalized running game shut down. Running back Chris Harris hurt his left ankle in the second quarter after gaining 27 yards on six carries. He didn't return as the Warriors finished with 26 net rushing yards on the night.

While those totals seem paltry, considering how the Warriors used their pass selection, it was really just an extension of the running game anyway. Kuehn's touchdown came on a 37-yard play that began as a bubble screen to the right.

"That's counted as a pass, but that bubble screen is an outside run for us," Waubonsie coach Paul Murphy said. "If they want to load up the box and stop the run, fine. We're going to take it the perimeter. You've got to take what the defense gives you."

And that meant short passes Friday night. Of Castro's 19 completions, only five were for more than 20 yards. Meanwhile, 11 were for fewer than 10 yards, including both of Hilgers' touchdowns.

Kuehn caught eight passes for 120 yards, while Hilgers had 82 yards on his eight grabs.

During the Warriors' go-ahead drive, the Lancers double- and triple-teamed Hilgers. That left Kuehn and Malcolm Bucker (two catches, 39 yards) open at various times.

"I didn't see that coming because every one of our receivers is a threat," Kuehn said of the added attention on Hilgers. "It ended up working for the better for us."

The Warriors' next scoring drive came early in the fourth, thanks to a Lancer miscue on a punt snap. The ball never made it to the punter, instead ricocheting off the face mask of the blocker. Waubonsie took over on the Lake Park 31 and seven plays later Castro hit Hilgers with a 9-yard scoring strike.

The final points came after the Lancers turned it over on downs inside their five. Hilgers hauled in a 3-yard scoring pass, cementing the Warriors' third win in a row.

"Getting to 3-3 feels pretty good right now," Waubonsie left tackle Anthony Wolf said. "Starting out 0-3 you never really want to do that, because the whole team is feeling down about themselves. Once you win the first game, the second game, then the momentum builds and it's a snowball effect. And then you're feeling good about the team."