Tuesday evening marked the final time the Aurora Central Catholic football program will invade Bolingbrook for the summer, as they competed in “Tuesday Night Football” for the second time this year. The Chargers competed in 3 different competitions on the evening, but perhaps the biggest opponent for all 9 teams in attendance was the heat. Temperatures on Tuesday evening, hovered around 95 degrees when the event kicked off.
“The heat was brutal all day,” Aurora Central Catholic Head Coach Brian Casey said. “It doesn’t seem so bad early in the morning when we were on the field (summer camp), but the heat and humidity was thick the rest of the day, Wow!”
The heat provided a spark for the Chargers, who had their best 7 on 7 performance of the summer thus far.
“Tonight was very, very good,” Casey said. “We are starting to get it. The more reps we get, you can tell they are getting more comfortable with their roles and responsibilities on both offense and defense, and the more big plays we are creating.”
The Chargers opened the night with Chicago (Julian), and had contests against Chicago (Payton), Chicago (Evanswood) and shortened game with Rich South before the night was complete.
Offensivley, things started coming together for the Chargers. Of the 60 plays ran on the evening, 11 of them went for 30 yards or more. Seniors Jesse Valenzuela (Plano), Matt Musuras (Sugar Grove), junior Tyler Nelson (Aurora), and sophomores Brian Bohr (Aurora) and Cody Ekstrom (North Aurora) all turned in great nights on the receiving end of passes. In total, quarterbacks Kyle Clechenko (St. Charles) and Drake Riedy (Yorkville) completed 58% of the passes on the evening.
“This was the best we have looked on Offense,” Casey said. “We had quarterbacks finding the open man, receivers running good routes, and catching the football. We had a pretty good rhythm going, and you could see the confidence starting to grow with each snap.”
The Charger defense also had a very productive evening. The defense intercepted 8 passes on the evening, 4 of those 8 would be returned for touchdowns. Seniors Kyle Ritli (Aurora), Clechenko, juniors Javy Liz (Aurora), Nelson and sophomore Julian Rios (Aurora) all notched picks.
“It was great to see the defense making plays on the football tonight,” Casey said. “Over the last few competitions, we have had guys in position with great coverage, but were not coming up with big plays. We did that tonight.”
Aurora Central Catholic will compete in its final 7 on 7 of the summer this Saturday, traveling to Pontiac for the 32nd Annual Pontiac Passing Tournament. The Chargers will compete against LeRoy, Normal Community, Munster (IN), Mendota, and Kaneland at the event.
