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Anthony Cikauskas, Oswego D-line feast in first-round rout of Elgin

Panthers get five sacks, four turnovers, Cole Pradel throws for three TDs and runs for one

Cikauskas has made a name for himself this season on a fierce defensive line. "Sausage" positively feasted Friday. He had two of Oswego's five sacks, and two of his team's three fumble recoveries – one, for a touchdown. Cole Pradel threw for three touchdown passes and ran for a fourth, and fifth-seeded Oswego easily dispatched of 28th-seeded Elgin 42-8 in a Class 8A first-round playoff game. (Steven Buyansky)

By Joshua Welge

Cikauskas has made a name for himself this season on a fierce defensive line. "Sausage" positively feasted Friday. He had two of Oswego's five sacks, and two of his team's three fumble recoveries – one, for a touchdown. Cole Pradel threw for three touchdown passes and ran for a fourth, and fifth-seeded Oswego easily dispatched of 28th-seeded Elgin 42-8 in a Class 8A first-round playoff game. (Steven Buyansky)

Oswego (9-1) advanced to play the winner of Saturday's 6 p.m. matchup between Hinsdale Central and Bolingbrook. "It was a good game for the whole team," said Pradel, 8-for-9 for 136 yards, all in the first half. "We wanted to come out and build confidence and try to get a run going." Elgin (5-5), making its first playoff appearance since 2010, had been on a good run coming in. The Maroons, led by dynamic receiver Xavier Bonds, had averaged 37.4 points per game during a five-game win streak. (Steven Buyansky)

But Elgin never got traction on the slick, muddy Ken Pickerill Stadium field, against a stingy Oswego defense. The Maroons managed just 103 yards of offense. Cikauskas had two sacks, and Jack Hugunin, Matt Egly and Jacob Garlick each added one. Egly had Oswego's other fumble recovery, and the Panthers also picked off Elgin once. "We knew we had to put pressure on them, but not too much because the quarterback can scramble, and we had to lock down the gaps," Cikauskas said. "For sure keep him in the pocket and not let him get outside." (Steven Buyansky)

Bonds scored Elgin's lone TD, on a 7-yard run in the fourth quarter, but managed just 84 total yards. "It too me about 30 seconds after we exchanged film to realize that No. 11 [Bonds] needed to be double covered and identified," Oswego coach Brian Cooney said. "Our kids did a good job of understanding the game plan and limiting their athletes." On the other end Oswego scored touchdowns on five straight possessions, after a turnover on downs on the first of the game. (Steven Buyansky)

Pradel twice connected with Nick Hampton on TDs. The first, from 21 yards out, Hampton made a clever one-handed grab for a 7-0 lead with 2:40 left in the first quarter. "That was a really good catch," Pradel said. "I honestly thought I was going to overthrow him. He caught it with one hand and I was going crazy." Pradel and Hampton later hooked up on a 38-yard TD, Pradel flushed out of the pocket and finding his fellow junior wide open on a deep cross. Later, Pradel connected with Jack Lemke for a 29-yard TD. Pradel's 13-yard TD run on a keeper up the gut made it 28-0 at the half. (Steven Buyansky)

"We had a good gameplan going into tonight," Pradel said. "The second drive we came out, started to get going and from there we clicked and everything was going right. The passing game worked tonight." That caught Cooney by surprise, considering the conditions. "I did not expect the passing game with the turf we had," Cooney said. "We thought we'd be going old school ground and pound, but there were some options in our read game that Cole read real well." Beau Miller scored on a 15-yard TD run on Oswego's first drive of the second half. On the ensuing possession, Elgin's quarterback fumbled, and Cikauskas pounced on it in the end zone to make it 42-0 and trigger a running clock. (Steven Buyansky)

Falling on the football was a little easier than doing something with it, as Cikauskas found it when he recovered the first fumble in the first half. "The ball ended up in my legs," Cikauskas said. "I was going to try to pick it up but it was just too slippery to get back up." Regardless, Cikauskas continues to be a force in his first varsity season. (Steven Buyansky)

He entered Friday with 7.5 sacks and 14 tackles for loss, both team-highs, and had a few more tackles for loss Friday. "We've been fortunate the last couple years to have some good defensive linemen," Cooney said. "That allows us to drop into coverage a little more. "Weeks 1-10 we've been able to supply some heat on the quarterbacks. The D-line played well tonight for sure." (Steven Buyansky)