Glenbard South's quickness overwhelms
Raiders strike early, head to second-round contest
With its home field unplayable because of rain, Glenbard South used fellow district school Glenbard North's artificial turf to derail the Rochelle Hubs 35-14 in Class 5A action at Weber field in Carol Stream on Dec. 31.
Next for the Raiders (8-2) is a Nov. 7, 1 p.m. game back on their home field against 8-2 Vernon Hills.
"We wanted to use our speed on the turf," Raiders quarterback Trace Wanless said. "We just played them and knew we could use our quickness to get big yardage against their defense."
The Raiders' senior signal-caller new exactly what he was talking about. On the first play of the game, Wanless bolted up the middle for a 53-yard touchdown run at 11:58. After a missed extra point, South was up 6-0.
After a fumbled Rochelle snap, South took over on downs with excellent field position at the Hubs' 21-yard line.
On the first play of the drive, running back Connor Douglas (six carries, 50 yards) went untouched for a 21-yard score at the 9:45 mark.
And before the Hubs could say "two-point conversion", Wanless ran it in as the Raiders were ahead 14-0.
"I yelled at our offensive coaches, I said, 'We're scoring too fast. Can you score more slowly?'" Raiders coach Dan Starkey joked. "But seriously, our defense risked becoming less effective being on the field too long."
Starting on its own 45, Rochelle (5-5) used it's trio of running backs -- C.J. Navaro (14 carries, 42 yards), Dan Ruppenthal (13 carries, 58 yards) and Josh Bernardin (14 carries, 75 yards) to grind it down field.
A big 17-yard Ruppenthal run had the Hubs to the Raiders' 5. Two plays later, Ruppenthal got the call again and rambled in from 4 yards out at 6:05.
A successful two-point conversion pass from Hubs quarterback Brett Metzger to Mitch Crandell closed the gap to 14-8.
Not missing a beat, South answered right back with good field position at the Hubs' 43. Wanless and Douglas took turns running the ball down field to the Rochelle 11.
Wanless took it in for his second touchdown of the quarter as the 11-yard run extended the Raiders lead to 21-8 with just a minute left.
"Our offensive line has been doing it all year," Wanless said. "Those guys gave us big holes to run through the hole game. They don't get mentioned but deserve a lot of the credit."
Starting on the Hubs' 45, the Raiders took the ball deep into Rochelle territory. A 17-yard scramble from Wanless (13 carries, 114 yards) gave the Raiders first-and-goal at the Hubs' 5. Wanless (4-of-5, 72 yards) then went to the air to fullback Austin Teitsma for a 4-yard pass play and at 7:44 the Raiders took a commanding 28-8 lead.
The Hubs looked as if they would answer back midway through the second quarter with a 17-play drive down to the South 10.
But the Raiders' defense held their ground with a big series, denying Rochelle the end zone on four consecutive plays. The half would end with Glenbard South ahead 28-8.
Midway through the third quarter, the Wanless-Douglas duo teamed up for two big screen passes, one of 16 yards to the Hubs' 41, the second for 29 yards and a Raiders' touchdown.
With the extra-point kick, South broke the game wide open with a 35-8 lead and 5:29 remaining in the quarter.
Rochelle answered with another decent drive down to the South 8. But once again the Raiders' defense held.
The Raiders' defense would hold the Hubs to just 46 yards of offense for the fourth quarter and 98 yards for the second half.
A 26-yard fourth-quarter touchdown pass from Metzger to Austin Gabriel with 7:45 left in the contest ended the scoring for the game.
"It was nice to play on the turf today, but I want another game on our home field," Wanless said. "Vernon Hills is a very good team. We don't know much about them. We just want to continue to work hard and hopefully get four more wins"
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