Second-half surge paces Bolingbrook blowout

Bolingbrook coach John Ivlow “wasn’t sure what” he saw in the first half Saturday in Joliet — but was quick to spell out the repercussions if it continued.

“He said it’s going to be a hell of a week of practice if we come out the same way we did in the first half,” Raiders senior Jacob Huff said. “We knew what he meant. We’ve had a couple practices like that.”

Huff and the No. 10 Raiders responded in kind, scoring 27 unanswered third-quarter points en route to a 50-14 Southwest Suburban Blue win over Joliet West.

Bolingbrook (4-1, 3-0) has not met much resistance since a Week 1 loss to Hinsdale Central, but West at least punched back for a half to trail just 16-7.

Huff (eight carries, 111 yards) ripped off a 43-yard touchdown run on the second play of the second half, and the tone was set. He scored from eight yards out after a Bryce Herring interception, and a West fumble turned into a Julian Huff one-yard score.

Touchdown runs by Quincy Woods and Brandon Weathers made it 50-7 shortly into the fourth quarter.

Ivlow made his point, and then the Raiders made theirs.

“I would definitely call this a wake-up call,” Jacob Huff said. “When teams are down, bury them. That’s the way we have to play the rest of the way.”

West (3-2, 1-2) was coming off a huge win at Sandburg, and Alex Tibble’s 19-yard touchdown pass to Evan French had the Tigers in the hunt for a half.

But the Tigers couldn’t stop their bigger, more physical opponent from imposing its will with the run game. Two turnovers set up Bolingbrook with short fields, and West’s defense seemed to wear down in the afternoon heat.

“We made a couple mistakes that we can’t make and they just pounded at us in that third quarter,” Tigers coach Jason Aubry said. “It got away from us.”

Bolingbrook barely revealed its passing game, but didn’t need to. The Raiders ran for 303 yards, Isaac Lane accounting for 79 of those and Julian Huff , taking in two scores.

“The fact that we could physically move the ball up and down the field running the ball, that’s good,” Ivlow said. “Our pass game we still haven’t really unleashed.”

Tibble was 8 of 16 for 91 yards and Mitch Dolak had a late four-yard TD run for West — and it doesn’t get any easier for the Tigers next week at Lincoln-Way East.

West is still within striking distance of the school’s first playoff appearance with four weeks left, and Aubry won’t let his kids lose sight of the big picture.

“I told our kids that this is just a bump in the road,” Aubry said. “We have things to accomplish and we’re not done. Good teams come back from this. We don’t have a break and that’s fine.’’