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Sports

Mustangs Diversify to Beat Naperville North

Running back Wauer, receiver Miller help DGS to opening-round playoff victory.

After finishing the regular season with a 20-14 loss to Addison Trail, knew it needed to make some changes if it was going to advance far in the playoffs.

Star running back Josh Williams was held to a season-low 59 yards in that game, so the Mustangs were determined to find different ways to score.

They did so in impressive fashion Friday night, as junior John Wauer rushed for two touchdowns and quarterback A.J. Simoncelli tossed a pair of touchdown passes to Kaylon Miller to lead host Downers South to a 37-24 victory over Naperville North in a Class 8A opener.

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The Mustangs (9-1) will host Brother Rice (7-3), which beat Sandburg 35-14, in the second round next weekend. Game date and time will be announced Monday.

“It definitely was [a wake-up call],” Miller said of the loss to Addison Trail. “It tells us…we had to spread out the field and have a diverse game, just open up the playbook more.”

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The Mustangs showed the Huskies (5-5) a variety of looks, using Williams at quarterback in the Wildcat formation on several plays early on and using Wauer in short-yardage on the goal line.

“We always had it in,” Miller said. “We just know when to bring it out. It was just something we had in our back pocket tonight.”

Miller, a junior wide receiver, had his best game yet, catching six passes for a career-high 93 yards, including touchdown receptions of 22 and 27 yards, the second of which gave the Mustangs a 30-3 lead with 8:17 left in the third quarter. It was Miller’s first two-touchdown game.

“It wasn’t me,” Miller said. “It was all the line and A.J. The line blocked and A.J. just found the opening. I give all the credit to my line and my QB.”

Simoncelli had perhaps the best performance of his career, completing 17 of 23 passes for 230 yards and no interceptions. In addition to Miller, Simoncelli also found Williams, Marco Scalzetti, Anthony Farinella and Scott Daly for first-down catches.

In the early going, however, it was the ground game that got the glory. Wauer, a junior defensive back, rarely gets the chance to carry the ball because Williams takes over 95 percent of the handoffs.

But Wauer had three carries for seven yards, including a pair of two-yard touchdown runs in the first half.

“It was exciting,” said Wauer, who had scored only one previous touchdown. “Every time they kept sending in the play I was like, ‘really, wow!’ But I guess they trust me now and they trust the line and I trust Josh to make a block.”

Naperville North was clearly surprised to see Wauer get the ball near the goal line, focused as they were on stopping Williams, who ended up with 36 carries for 172 yards and a one-yard touchdown that boosted Downers South’s lead to 37-17 with 6:40 left in the fourth quarter.

"I’m not the secret weapon,” Wauer said. “I’m just a guy trying to do the dirty work. But I give a lot of credit to my team.”

The Mustangs gave a lot of credit to Wauer, who also had an interception and a fumble recovery.

“I’ve been playing with John for a long time so it was a great feeling for him,” Miller said. “He had a great, great game. Everyone should have their moment.”

Naperville North quarterback Tyler Gehr threw three touchdowns in the second half, but the Huskies never came closer than 13 points. Downers South’s defense was dominant in the first half, forcing four turnovers, including a fumble recovery by Javon Turner.

Sophomore corner back DeAndre Washington set the tone, intercepting Gehr on the game’s opening series and returning it 37 yards to the Huskies’ 23. The Mustangs settled for a 35-yard field goal by Farinella but eventually would take a 23-0 lead before Naperville North got on the board with Ron Coluzzi’s 37-yard field as time expired in the first half.

“Obviously we took advantage of the turnovers, which you need to do,” Downers South coach John Belskis said. “That hurt us last year and helped us this year. For the most part our defense played outstanding for the first half at least and part of the second. At the end there [the Huskies] went hurry-up and hit a couple things on us and we’ll learn from that, but anytime you get a win in the playoffs you take it any way you can.”

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