Aurora Christian denies Mendota

MENDOTA - It was a classic case of bending but not breaking.

Aurora Christian was at every conceivable disadvantage Friday night in a battle of top-10 Class 4A football combatants. Host Mendota dominated the first half in time of possession and yards from scrimmage, but the Eagles never faltered when it truly mattered.

Aurora Christian won its second consecutive no conference game to start the season, thwarting the Trojans on four fourth-down conversions and a pair of Luis Solorio-induced turnovers to preserve its 10-6 victory.

"I don't know if I've ever been in a game where I felt like everything was going their way," Aurora Christian coach Don Beebe said.

In the final stages of the third quarter, Aurora Christian, leading by what proved to be the final score, stuffed three straight Mendota dive plays inside its own 4-yard line to preserve it tenuous lead.

"It was intense," said Solorio. "We were expecting the dive each time. I was keying on the fullback (Zach Faber)."

"We had three shots for a half a yard," lamented Mendota coach Brock Sondgeroth.

It was the third time Aurora Christian received possession on a loss of downs, and the fourth time came on the Trojans' ensuing possession.

But the Eagles were still not out of the woods. Mendota forced Aurora Christian to punt midway through the fourth quarter, and Faber, who punished the Eagles with a game-high 165 yards on 26 bruising carries, had a 29-yard gallop to put the Trojans on the Eagles' doorstep.

Facing a critical third-and-one, however, the Mendota quarterback fumbled the snap, and Solorio recovered at the Eagles' 6.

"I saw the ball come out and saw it hit the ground," Solorio said. "I just dove for it."

With less than two minutes to play and Mendota out of timeouts, Aurora Christian appeared to salt the game away when Lewis Gaddis rumbled 78 yards on the ensuing play. But Aurora Christian fumbled deep in Mendota territory with a minute and change remaining.

But Solorio concluded his defensive evening by sacking the Trojans' quarterback for a 22-yard loss, and the back-and-forth game ended when the senior linebacker intercepted a pass after the game was extended on a defensive pass interference call.

"When it came down to stopping them on fourth down, we did," Beebe said.

Mendota opened the scoring when Matt Sondgeroth scored on a 52-yard pass reception late in the first. But Brandon Oest tied the game at 6-6 with a 35-yard interception return, and Jake Van Gilse did the rest.

The place-kicker gave Aurora Christian the lead with the PAT, and he concluded the scoring with a 27-yard field goal on the Eagles' opening second-half possession.

"We had our opportunities and didn't make them," coach Sondgeroth said.

Sycamore, 33, Burlington 17: Burlington Central coach Aaron Wichman knows his team is better than it was after week 1 of the 2008 football season.

He also knows what the Rockets' still need to improve on.

Central's momentum-killing penalties and a running back by committee approach from Sycamore were just too much for the Rockets to overcome as they fell to 0-2 with a 33-17 loss at Sycamore.

"We had some momentum going sometimes and I know it hurt our momentum," Whichman said of the penalties.

Central was whistled 11 times for 55 yards, including twice in a row, which changed a third-and-3 at the Sycamore 7 to a third-and-13 at the 17.

"We get our drive going pretty well and then make a s tupid mistake," Central quarterback Tim Maroder said. "Even on defense, we made some stupid mistakes."

Sycamore (2-0) jumped out to an early 13-0 lead after running just 8 offensive plays in the first quarter. Cody Bex's 1-yard run capped off a 4-play 52-yard scoring drive in the games first 1:33, but a missed extra point only put Sycamore up 6-0.

After holding the Rockets to a 3-and-out, including a 5-yard penalty, Marckie Hayes dashed in from 38 yards out to cap off a 4-play, 60-yard scoring drive which only took 1 minute, 40 seconds off the clock.

In all, Central was forced to punt on 3 of its first 4 possessions, and turned another over on downs as Nick Smith was stuffed on a fourth-and-1 on the Sycamore 24 on the other.

Hayes (3 carries, 68 yards) and Tom Hensley (4 carries, 60 yards) combined to rush for 128 yards on just 7 carries during that span.

Sycamore quarter back Michael Buckner (7 carries, 70 yards, 1 TD) and Joe Dougherty 16 carries, 70 yards) did the damage the rest of the way.

"I know on film they had a lot of good backs," Wichman said. "Their quarterback impressed me. He's a hard runner. He ran the offense well."

Maroder shined late in the game.

The sophomore QB hit Jeremy Lee on a 21-yard touchdown pass with 4:54 left to play and then connected with Kevin Kellish for the 2-point conversion to cut Sycamore's lead to 33-14. He finished as the Rockets leading rusher with 59 yards on 15 carries. Kellish scored the Rockets' first touchdown with a 6-yard reverse with 11:52 left in the fourth quarter.

Buckner hooked up with Hensley on a pair of scoring passes in the second half, the first a 92-yard bomb with 5:13 left in the third and the second a 42-yard pass with 7:56 left in the fourth.

Buckner also ran in a 7-yard touchdown with 9:48 left in the third.

- Matt Stacionis