Ben Alvarez, Yorkville wear down Oswego East, clinch fourth straight playoff appearance

OSWEGO – Ben Alvarez has to stay hydrated to handle everything on his plate.

The junior linebacker is one of many Yorkville defensive stalwarts adding offensive responsibilities to their duties this season. Alvarez doesn’t leave the field on special teams, either, and scored a touchdown on an errant punt snap Friday night, Oct. 7.

“I drink a lot of Gatorade and water to make sure I don’t cramp up,” Alvarez said. “But it’s a great feeling to know I can contribute on all phases.”

Indeed, Alvarez was part of a first-team defense that didn’t allow a point for the second consecutive week. And at fullback, he was lead blocker as Foxes’ junior Josh Gettemy rushed for 249 yards on 30 carries. The visiting Foxes imposed their will up front on both sides of the ball to wear down and beat Oswego East 28-14 in the Southwest Prairie West, clinching the program’s fourth consecutive playoff appearance.

“It’s amazing, a great feeling, everything that we have worked for all year, really,” Gettemy said. “It was a team effort.”

Gettemy, taking on lead back duties with Gio Zeman’s foot injury flaring up again, came through with a career night.

He rushed for 187 of his 249 yards in the second half, with 18 of his 30 carries. Yorkville’s offense, which had not scored a touchdown in 10 consecutive quarters dating back to Week 5, came alive with a faster tempo out of halftime Oct. 7.

The Foxes (6-1, 2-1) scored touchdowns on their first three drives of the second half, Gettemy taking in TD runs of 24 and 15 yards. Kyle Stevens also scored on a 3-yard TD run on a QB sneak that made it 14-0 with 5:02 left in the third quarter.

“Our O-line figured it out, blocking was amazing. I couldn’t have done it without them,” Gettemy said. “We realized over the summer that we had done enough work to go hurry up and we had the conditioning to do it and we went with it. That’s the best O-line game I’ve ever seen and I’ve been playing football since I was 5 or 6 years old.”

Yorkville coach Dan McGuire said it was the best game Gettemy’s played, and also had high praise for the work Alvarez did as lead blocker.

“We’re throwing a lot at Ben,” McGuire said. “The fullback position on our team is the toughest position to play on our team with things to remember and what is going on with alignment, who to block. He’s really getting better and better as the weeks go by.”

Alvarez also scored the only touchdown of the first half. On a high snap over the Oswego East punter’s head, Alvarez fell on the loose change in the end zone for a 7-0 lead with 10:19 left in the second quarter.

“Bad snap, Luke Zook was running after it, I saw it fall on the ground and jumped on it, got a touchdown,” Alvarez said. “Great feeling.”

Yorkville’s defense, meanwhile, made life difficult all night for Oswego East.

The Wolves (4-3, 1-2) had onlyjust 23 yards of offense in the first half, 65 for the game until their final possession when the starters were out on both sides. Oswego East’s only scoring came on Michael Parrott’s 100-yard kickoff return in the third quarter and backup QB Armon Holmes’ TD pass to Mike Polubinski in the final minute.

Oswego East QB Tre Jones was 6 for 19 passing for 14 yards, and rarely had much time to throw. Andrew Laurich and Andrew Zook both had sacks for the Foxes.

“Their defensive line is as good as advertised. It seemed like there was eight of them out there when there was only four,” Oswego East coach Tyson LeBlanc said. “When they can pin their ears back, you’re in trouble. We had a plan to come in to take advantage of their secondary, but it’s tough when the pass rush is like that.”

Oswego East’s second straight loss sets up a huge crosstown game with Oswego on Oct. 14. Both teams likely will need the win to keep their playoff hopes on track.

“A lot on the line,” LeBlanc said. “A little more fuel on the fire.”