There’s little doubt Neuqua Valley has found what it has been looking for.
With senior quarterback Broc Rutter spreading the ball around with four first-half touchdown passes, Neuqua Valley cruised to a 69-27 victory Friday night over East Aurora in Naperville.
Over .500 for the first time this season, Neuqua Valley (3-2, 3-0) won its third straight behind an offensive explosion that saw 10 players score touchdowns en route as the Wildcats established a single-game program record for points.
The Indiana State-bound Rutter threw first-quarter touchdown passes to Owen Piche, Evan Moore and Isaiah Robertson while Dominick Muoghalu added a 40-yard TD run as the Wildcats raced out to a 27-0 lead with 2:02 left in the first quarter.
In that quarter, Rutter completed 7 of 8 passes for 178 yards and the three TD passes.
“I think it was great. We just knew it was a team that we just had to go out and execute (against) and do our stuff and worry about ourselves,” he said. “And I think we did that. We got a ton of different guys the ball. We just did everything we wanted to do.”
Rutter was very efficient in throwing for 244 yards and four TDs to four receivers after connecting with Brett Borske for a 28-yard TD in the second quarter, with just two incompletions.
Charlie Hunter, Jacob Krajacic and DeVaughn Welch joined Muoghalu as Wildcats with rushing TDs, while Zach Herdman and Luke Sawicki added kickoff returns for TDs of 92 and 45 yards, respectively.
“Yeah, we’re doing it in all three phases right now, which is really nice to see,” Neuqua Valley coach Bill Ellinghaus said. “The first couple games, we looked at our offense and we were like, ‘You know, we need to just keep chipping away at it.’
“And sometimes it takes a little while to get into a rhythm and I feel like we’re in a little bit of a rhythm right now and look to continue.”
East Aurora (0-5, 0-3), playing with its third-string quarterback, senior Michael Gonzalez and without its starting center, finally got on the board after Gonzalez found Maurice Nichols for a 9-yard TD early in the second quarter.
However, on the ensuing kickoff, Herdman’s 92-yard kickoff return for a TD put the momentum right back in the Wildcats’ corner.
Gonzalez finished 18 of 47 passing for 195 yards and threw two TDs to Nichols for the Tomcats, while Nate Booker ran for his third TD in as many games with his 5-yard scoring run shortly before halftime.