Adam Uriostegui’s clutch catch turns the tide, helps send Riverside-Brookfield past Aurora Christian

RIVERSIDE – Riverside-Brookfield senior Adam Uriostegui was about to make a second-quarter catch Sept. 16 when the ball bounced off his pads and away from him.

Uriostegui stuck with the play and made a 20-yard reception.

“Coach always told me to use my hands first and I kind of took a play off, but I had to make sure to go grab it and not let it go,” Uriostegui said.

Five plays later, Uriostegui pulled in an even more bizarre pass that changed the game’s momentum.

The deflected 25-yard TD reception from quarterback Diego Gutierrez gave the Bulldogs the lead for good in their 35-7 Homecoming victory over Aurora Christian.

The slant pass was deflected by leaping Aurora Christian defensive back Owen Hampton at the 9. The ball continued in flight and reached Uriostegui basically in stride.

“Right when the ball was in the air, I knew I’d seen that ball 100 times before. The defender just jumped a little early, tipped it and it was right there for me to grab,” Uriostegui said. “The ball just landed perfectly in my hands.”

The Bulldogs (3-1, 2-0 Metro Suburban Red) were in control from that point on, though it wasn’t until the fourth quarter that they pulled away with three touchdowns.

Two fourth-quarter touchdowns came from running back/receiver Luke Kumskis. The other score was a 25-yard interception return by standout senior linebacker Drew Swiatek that gave the Bulldogs a 28-7 lead.

“That was my first touchdown ever so it was pretty cool,” Swiatek said. “That was pretty much as perfect as it could have been. Great coverage. I was able to get that because everyone else was covered.”

Jackson Drumheller also had an interception. Swiatek, Luke Smithing, Iggy Bielobradek and Garrett Angshed had pass breakups.

Aurora Christian moved the ball effectively in the first half (166 yards, nine first downs) but had two missed 41-yard field-goal attempts. The Bulldogs’ Marques Turner thwarted another drive with a fumble recovery at the 7.

The Eagles reached the 32 on their opening drive of the second half, but the possession ended on Angshed’s pass breakup on fourth-and-7.

“We talked about it at halftime. We were pretty much in this exact situation Week 1 [beating Morton 35-28],” Riverside-Brookfield coach Sam Styler said. “We had the lead and kind of let off the gas a little. We let them back in the game. We came out in the second half [Sept. 16] and did what we needed to do.”

Kumskis scored on a 6-yard play-action pass on the first play of the fourth quarter. That was followed by Swiatek’s pick for a touchdown and Kumskis’ 6-yard TD run.

“It’s really fun [rushing], just hitting holes and getting to run over people,” said the 6-foot-3 Kumskis, a defensive end in 2021.

Kumskis’ first-quarter TD run was from the 1. Aurora Christian returned the ensuing kickoff to the 14 and scored on a 1-yard run.

“The first half, we gave them great field position on that one kickoff but after that, we really stepped up and stopped them when we needed to,” Styler said. “We knew we needed to have a perfect week and the defense did that, a couple of huge plays at needed times.”