Carl Bew shines in first Joliet West victory, 36-31 over West Aurora

AURORA – Joliet West seemed to have its initial win of the season well in hand.

It appeared statistically impossible for the Tigers to drop their Southwest Prairie Conference crossover against West Aurora on Thursday night.

But 16 first-half infractions by the Tigers completely altered the complexion of the game.

Joliet West found a way to circumvent enough mental mistakes to last a season, however, as quarterback Carl Bew eluded two defenders in his backfield to score his fourth touchdown of the game. The 4-yard run with 20 seconds to play allowed Joliet West to reverse its third deficit of the game and earn a hard-fought, utterly unpredictable, 36-31 victory in Aurora.

The fourth Bew rushing score of the contest capped a frenetic 99-yard drive.

In the first half, Bew was directly responsible for 250 of the Tigers’ 305 total yards. The senior signal-caller had three rushing touchdowns on the ground in the first half, including a 69-yard jaunt on the Tigers’ first play of the game.

The opening 24 minutes of game action in Aurora almost defied description.

The Blackhawks (1-3) were adrift offensively the for entire first two quarters. They had minus-10 yards of offense on 24 combined rushing and passing attempts.

Miraculously for West Aurora, however, it was still alive and kicking on the basis of twin scores on special teams.

West Aurora took 7-0 and 14-7 leads, as Samuel Stone opened the scoring by returning a fumbled punt 10 yards.

But Rashard Wright had the individual highlight-reel play of the game. Wright not only blocked a 24-yard field goal, but also had the presence of mind to scoop up the ball and rumble 89 yards the other way.

Bew had the antidote to the two unconventional scores by calling his own number on scoring runs of 12 and 15 yards to give Joliet West a 21-14 lead at intermission. The Tigers (1-3) doubled their cushion to 28-14 on their opening second-half drive, as Bew found Jovon Johnson from 4 yards away.

But West Aurora quarterback Gino Martino engineered a 17-point burst by hitting athletic wideouts Andrew Kolich and Terrence Smith on 32- and 56-yard scoring strikes.

The Blackhawks were in a position to climb back to .500 on the season, only to see Bew get one last chance with a key stop by the Joliet West defense.

And 99 yards later, the fourth Bew ground score on the night put then game on ice for the Tigers.

Marino had his desperation Hail Mary from midfield fall innocuously to the ground as time expired, and Joliet West’s season-opening skid was snapped at three games.

The Tigers amassed 536 yards on a whopping 84 plays from scrimmage as their no-huddle offense and 38 combined incompletions significantly prolonged the game.

Bew finished with 222 yards on 26 carries while augmenting his career night with another 212 yards through the air. Marion Starks’ five receptions translated into another 123 yards for Joliet West.

Christian Sticklen and Matt Marchiniak spearheaded the Tigers’ first-half shutdown defense.