Waubonsie Valley 38, Elgin 15
The Waubonsie Valley football team needed to find a stimulant for its struggling offense.
Tyler Castro and Ty Williams was just what the Warriors needed.
Williams caught a pass from Castro on a slant pattern and beat the Elgin defense to the end zone with 11 seconds remaining in the first half to give Waubonsie the lead. The Warriors eventually scored 31 unanswered points to beat the Maroons, 38-15, at Memorial Field.
"I think that could have been the biggest thing because we needed momentum," Castro said. "You could tell in the first half we were dead, obviously that play sparked some energy and we built on that."
Elgin (2-3, 0-2 Upstate Eight) scored on the opening drive of the game. The Maroons went 80 yards in 10 plays capped by a Tom Roth 6-yard touchdown pass to James Duncan to take a 7-0 lead.
Waubonsie (3-2, 2-1) got on the scoreboard with a 28-yard field goal from Mitch Ewald 3 seconds into the second quarter. The Warriors gained 65 yards on that drive, but had just 14 on their three other possessions of the first half before they got the at Elgin's 48 with 56 seconds left in the first half.
Kenny Williams sacked Castro for a 7-yard loss.
Kenny Harrington followed with a 6-yard run. Castro then hit Williams, who made a nice play on the ball, for a 49-yard touchdown to give the Warriors a 10-7 halftime lead.
"That was a huge emotional lift," Waubonsie coach Paul Murphy said. "We knew we might be a little flat to start the game, but I thought we were going to be ready to play. It just took a while to get going after the Neuqua game last week."
The Warriors used the momentum to quickly put the Maroons away. Castro hit Drew Warden for a 2-yard score on the first possession of the second half. Elgin was forced to punt on its first possession, but a bad snap on the punt attempt allowed Waubonsie to get the ball in the Maroons' 2-yard line.
Castro scored on the next play as the Warriors took a 24-7 lead with 6:58 remaining in the third quarter.
Later in the quarter Waubonsie's Kevin Garbis blocked a bunt, giving the Warriors the ball on Elgin's 20. Two plays later Castro found Ben Smith for a 21-yard touchdown and a 31-7 lead.
"We started having some special-team breakdowns again. We also had some penalties that killed the momentum here and there," Maroons coach Tom Kim said. "When you put yourself in that kind of situation it becomes really difficult to open up what you want to do."
Roth and Duncan combined for a 57-yard touchdown and again for a 2-point conversion with 6:11 remaining in the game to cut the deficit to 31-15. Roth threw for 194 yards, 105 going to Duncan.
Harrington, who finished with 140 yards on 23 carries. added a 15-yard touchdown run with 3:41 left to complete the scoring.
Castro was 5-for-12 for 146 yards and three touchdowns for the Warriors.