Bolingbrook junior quarterback Tyson Ward said that this season, teams have keyed on junior running back TJ Lewis.

Friday night, he decided to show he can carry the ball as well.

“Teams key on TJ and act like I can’t run. I proved tonight I can,” Ward said. “Now they have to key on me too.”

Ward carried the ball 15 times for 186 yards and four touchdowns as the Raiders defeated Minooka 39-20 to move to 6-2.

“We have a solid football team,” Bolingbrook coach Titcus Pettigrew said. “We have 17 starters returning, and we are blessed. We have some senior leadership, and the young guys made mistakes early, but they are better.

“I was here for the hardships, and now we are reaping the fruits of that.”

Pettigrew knew Bolingbrook would be in for a battle against the visiting Indians, and because of that adjusted the team schedule this week to make sure it was ready.

“We normally have a walk-through on Thursdays, but this week we went full pads, because we know what Minooka brings week-in and week-out, and we need to get ourselves prepared, and I didn’t feel that we were ready,” he said.

The Raiders grabbed an early interception, but could not turn it into points. They got the ball back right away after forcing and recovering a fumble.

It was after that turnover that Ward ran the ball in from 18 yards out with 7 minutes, 14 seconds left in the opening quarter. A failed point-after left the Raiders with a 6-0 lead.

Minooka answered on its first play of the second quarter, as tight end Jackson Miranda took the direct snap and ran it in from 2 yards out to tie the game 6-6.

Bolingbrook opened a 27-6 lead before senior Chase Nurczyk ran in from 2 yards out for his first of two touchdowns on the night. He finished the game with 27 carries for 115 yards.

The Raiders offense wasn’t all on the legs of Ward, as he finished the game completing 7-of-11 passes for 96 yards and a 21-yard score to senior Caleb Wallace. Lewis got in the mix as well, carrying the ball eight times for 56 yards, including a 39-yard scoring run.

The win set Bolingbrook up for a home game next week hosting Yorkville and fighting for the Southwest Prairie Conference’s West Division title.

“We will be a scary team in late October when the playoffs come in,” Ward said. “Now we have the conference championship [at stake]. That is big, and now we have to focus in on what is up next.”

Minooka will travel to Oswego East for a final game before the playoffs, although coach Matt Harding said the Indians are not looking ahead – the culture of the program makes the playoffs an expectation.

“This side of the conference is a meat grinder, and there are no days off,” Harding said. “(Bolingbrook) is a good football team, and they have good players, and we do too. It was two good teams going at each other.

“We try not to look ahead and look at playoffs and all that. It has become an expectation at Minooka. We just focus on the game at hand and try and be 1-0. That all started with Terry McCombs and John Belskis, two hall-of-fame coaches that we had. They taught the way of football, and they mentored me and taught me to think like that.”

Bolingbrook is trying to get back to where the program was when it was a contender for a conference title – and more – every year.

“This was big to win a game that we were the underdog,” senior Tylan Ward said. “We will be happy to win conference.”

“This will be a big week,” junior Peyton Brooks said. “We are going for a conference championship, and we are at home. I am excited for next week and what comes after that.”