West Aurora scored 23 unanswered first-half points and held off a Glenbard South rally for a 23-12 Senior Night win Friday, Oct. 9, as first reported by the Daily Herald.

The Blackhawks struck first when Bryce Riley hauled in a 46-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter. Before the quarter ended, defensive back Darius Stewart intercepted a pass and returned it 10 yards for a touchdown, pushing the lead to 13-0.

West Aurora quarterback Tyler Fecht added a 4-yard scoring pass to Richard Bell Jr. in the second quarter. Kicker Darek Szczeblewski tacked on a 22-yard field goal with 2:59 left in the half, and the Blackhawks took a 23-0 cushion into the break.

Glenbard South's offense stalled in the first half, turning the ball over on downs against pressure from Stewart, Bell and Braden Fraus.

Raiders quarterback Tommy Bauman finally got the offense moving in the third quarter, capping an 80-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown run to make it 23-6. Bauman then threw a 2-yard scoring pass with 6:08 left in the fourth quarter, trimming the deficit to 23-12.

That was as close as South got.

West Aurora's defense stopped the Raiders on all four of their fourth-down conversion attempts in the second half to seal the win.

Bauman finished with 147 passing yards on 12 completions and added the 13-yard rushing score. Running back Joe Longo led the ground game as the Raiders totaled 139 rushing yards and 286 yards of offense. Riley paced West Aurora with 78 rushing yards on nine carries alongside his touchdown reception. Fecht went 14-of-24 for 131 yards and a touchdown.

The offensive struggles echoed a pattern Glenbard South coach Ryan Crissey identified after a 20-12 loss to Glenbard East on Sept. 18. "On offense, we struggled to establish the line of scrimmage … We couldn't get the interior run game going, and that turned us into a one-trick pony in terms of passing the ball," Crissey told Shaw Local after that earlier defeat.

The loss dropped the Raiders to 5-3 overall and 4-2 in conference after they had won back-to-back games and averaged 50 points per contest in their five victories, according to a Shaw Local preview. Bauman threw five touchdown passes in a 41-0 rout of Elmwood Park the week before the West Aurora game.

Despite the loss, Glenbard South's playoff outlook remains solid. Shaw Media's Steve Soucie projected that all teams with three or more wins are a virtual lock for the expanded 384-team IHSA postseason field.

Glenbard South closes the regular season at home against Riverside-Brookfield in Week 9. West Aurora travels to Aurora East.