Guido, Rhattigan pile up impressive numbers
BY BLAKE BAUMGARTNER For Sun-Times Media November 5, 2012 6:26PM
Neuqua Valley's Joey Rhattigan jumps to avoid a tackle against Waubonsie Valley at North Central College on Oct. 5. | Brian Powers~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: December 8, 2012 6:25AM
Already holding a long list of rushing records for each of their programs, Waubonsie Valley’s Austin Guido and Neuqua Valley’s Joey Rhattigan will meet for one last time Saturday when fourth-seeded Waubonsie Valley visits top-seeded Neuqua Valley in a Class 8A state quarterfinal.
When Neuqua Valley came away with a 35-34, double-overtime victory over Waubonsie Valley on Oct. 5, the two leaders of their respective offenses didn’t disappoint.
Running 34 times for 131 yards and three TDs against the Warriors, Rhattigan picked up where he left off in the two teams’ meeting a year ago, won by Waubonsie Valley 27-21 in overtime, when he ran for 241 yards and three TDs.
“As a team, I think that we’re motivated to play Waubonsie, but for me personally, I was stopped 4th-and-2 (in overtime last year),” Rhattigan said in the days leading up to the Oct. 5 game. “So that, personally, just sets the fire for me. I want to get after it just as bad as my team does and I think we’re gonna do just that.”
Guido, meanwhile, had the bigger night statwise between the two during the first meeting after rushing for 255 yards and a TD on 37 carries.
“It’s a credit to all the guys that are blocking for him. It’s a credit to his ability, but we’re not gonna worry about celebrating until after the season,” Waubonsie Valley coach Paul Murphy said of his 5-foot-10, 190-pound tailback’s success last month. “We got a long way to go here, so our focus is on the team and getting ready for the games and we’ll look at the individual accolades (later). Once our season’s over, obviously it’ll mean a lot. But, now, putting a definition on it is too hard because we feel we got a lot more games to play.”
Kickoff on Saturday is 6 p.m.
