Sycamore & Moeller Go To The Wire

Wow, easily the best game of the night in Region 4 Round 1! With the other Division One games being blowouts, the battle between Sycamore and Moeller lived up to its billing.

Early in this game it looked as if Sycamore would advance to the second round, but the “Mighty Men of Moeller” were set on not getting sent home for the season and made a great comeback to earn a trip to the second round of the playoffs.

With 17 seconds left in the game Moeller scored to take a 35 - 28 lead after Sycamore had tied the game with less than 2 minutes remaining. While it looked like overtime was coming the Crusaders had other plans.

While undersized on both sides of the ball, Sycamores offense kept them in the game using the pass with Aviator wide receivers continually beating Moeller defensive backs for long gains. While you could see the Aviators receiving corps definitely had more speed, it was the upfront blocking by an offensive line that used very tight splits to held up to the Moeller rush that made the early difference.

Moeller's defense and special teams would win the game for the Crusaders as super sophomore linebacker Nick Galvin intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown that tied the score at 21. Galvin played very well on the evening; making several stops as the Moeller coaching staff lined him up at various positions on the night but mostly at the middle linebacker spot. When needed Galvin would lineup on the outside and use his speed to apply pressure to the quarterback on several plays.

Fighting to get within a touchdown at 21 – 14, Moeller used an interception that was returned to the Aviators 8 yard line and a subsequent personal foul would place the ball on the 4 to help their cause.

While the defense rose to the occasion special teams soon followed as the Crusaders used a blocked punt to go ahead 28-21.

While Galvin is a player to watch the Crusaders also have a nice looking sophomore prospect in defensive lineman Marcus Rush (6-foot-3, 210 pounds) how played well on this night.

While the Aviators lack physical size they do make up for it with great team speed. While this will be a disappointing loss you can’t ignore the program being built by the Aviators as a whole.