Bolingbrook makes it look easy against Joliet West
By Jeff Vorva For Sun-Times Media September 15, 2012 5:18PM
Player Of the game
Bolingbrook running back Omar Stovar had five carries for 138 yards and three touchdowns.
Updated: October 17, 2012 6:34AM
Now it gets interesting for defending Class 8A state champion Bolingbrook.
After Saturday’s 44-12 road victory over Joliet West, the No. 1-ranked Raiders, who have beaten Plainfield South, Romeoville and the two Joliet schools by a combined score of 177-34, enter the meat of their regular-season schedule.
Bolingbrook (4-0, 2-0 in the SouthWest Suburban Blue) hosts Homewood-Flossmoor on Friday, visits Lincoln-Way East on Sept. 28 and hosts Sandburg on Oct. 5. Those three teams enter Week 5’s action with a combined 11-1 mark.
“This is the heart of our schedule — it’s just going to get harder and harder,” Raiders senior running back Omar Stover said. “We have to go harder in practice every day. These games will all be dogfights.”
Stover carried the ball just five times in the second quarter Saturday and ran for 138 yards and three touchdowns as the Raiders scored 32 second-quarter points to take a 44-0 halftime lead and force a running clock in the second half.
“I have to do my best whenever I can because you are never guaranteed a carry on this team,” Stover said. “This offense has so many weapons in its backfield so whenever you get the opportunity you have to do the best you can with it.”
Bolingbrook, which rested its starters in the second half, amassed 408 yards of offense — 406 on the ground — in the first half. Quarterback Aaron Bailey added 101 rushing yards.
On defense, Philip Stevens had a fumble recovery and Jacob Huff and Jeremy Smith had interceptions.
West has fallen on hard times since a 48-0 victory over Thornridge to open the season. The Tigers fell 31-27 to Plainfield South and 30-3 to Sandburg before running into the state powerhouse Raiders for its Homecoming. Tigers quarterback Ashton McCullough threw a 63-yard TD pass to Korey Rogers and added a 1-yard TD run in the second half Saturday.
Joliet West hopes to get back on track when it hosts Joliet Central on Saturday.
