Give the Devils their due on ‘D’
If the old adage of “offense wins games and defense wins championships” is true, Warren is well on its way to a special run in the IHSA playoffs.
Warren, which posted five shutouts and allowed an anemic 2.9 points per game over the last eight weeks of the regular season, put together another defensive gem Friday night in Gurnee.
In the first round of the Class 8A playoffs, the eighth-seeded Blue Devils kept 25th seed Neuqua Valley on a short leash in a 14-3 victory.
Warren, which allowed only 12 first downs and gave up a measly 61 rushing yards, improved to 9-1 and will play either Hinsdale Central or Conant in the second round.
Neuqua Valley, which was up 3-0 at halftime thanks to a 34-yard field goal by Palmer Domschke, ended its season at 6-4.
“When we went into halftime, we all said, ‘Who said it was going to be easy,’” said Warren sophomore linebacker Malachi McNeal, who recovered a fumble and made a big play on offense late in the game when he was used as a fullback. “We just went out [in the second half ] and played harder.”
While the defense kept tightening the screws, the Warren offense got its motor going.
The defense forced a Neuqua Valley punt on the first possession of the second half. Warren then used two big runs — 35 and 22 yards — from workhorse running back Martin Walker Jr. to take a 7-3 lead with 9:38 left in the third.
“We had a slow start. A couple flags hurt us,” said Walker Jr., who ran for a game-high 158 yards on 29 carries. “But in the end, we were able to push it in and move these guys. The holes were big, the offensive line opened up a big hole and I was able to make a quick burst through.”
Walker Jr. scored the other touchdown with 1:43 left in the fourth quarter after McNeal made a huge 17-yard gain on fourth-andone that got the Blue Devils down to the Neuqua Valley 5-yard line.
“It just took time to get the offense going,” Warren coach Bryan McNulty said. “These kids will just keep wearing on you. And Martin ran tough.”
Neuqua Valley quarterback Mark Gronowski completed 9 of 25 passes for 114 yards.
“We didn’t want to leave any regrets, and we tried to get it done, but we fell short,’’ Gronowski said. ‘‘We never stopped fighting, we just didn’t have enough to get us all the way through.”