After a hard fought 21-3 win over West Aurora last Friday, the wolves record improves to an impressive 4-1, as they win their first conference game of the season.

Coming off a 49-0 blowout against Joliet Central, the Wolves had approached the game with confidence as they prepared to face the West Aurora Blackhawks.

After losing last year’s homecoming contest to Minooka, wolves players felt they had something to prove while still treating this challenge like any other Friday.

“It hurt losing really bad on such an important night last year,” Juny Almeida says “, but we don’t want that to distract us from the fact that it’s just another Friday night on the stats sheet.”

To start the game, West Aurora would receive the ball. Though having the ball for nearly 9 minutes, West Aurora wasn’t able to put a point on the board and gave the ball to the wolves with 3 minutes left in the first.

After being stopped once on the wolves 11 yard line, a designed QB sneak taken to the house by Tre Jones would be the games only score of the first half.

“As the quarterback, I understand that most of the responsibilities can fall on my back,” Jones says after recording his 5th rushing touchdown of the season.

After a late wolves turnover in the second quarter, the half came to an end and the wolves knew they were in for a challenge.

Wolves head coach Tyson Leblanc knew the team had their work cut out for them going into the second with ball priority being the biggest factor. “We need to be better with our ball security,” Leblanc says, “We can’t score if we don’t have it.”

The Blackhawks received the ball to start the 3rd quarter and piece together a 7 minute drive that ended up in a Blackhawk field goal.

After trading possessions to end the 3rd, Jones connected with Moriarty on a 15 yard reception to bring them within 5 of scoring range. Jones ended up punching it in for the second wolves score of the game, putting them up 14-3.

“A lot of stuff was going through my head,” Moriarty says “but I pictured me holding and tucking in the ball securely to bring my team within range to score.”

After yet another defensive stop for the wolves, halfway through the last quarter of play, Jones finds junior Christian Martin for a score to give the wolves a 21-3 lead.

The wolves are now unbeaten in their last 3 games as they go into an away game against the also 4-1 Minooka Indians Friday.

Michael Wannah is a staff writer for Oswego East’s online news magazine The HOWL