Greenwald leads the way

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BATAVIA – A little frustration can fuel a running back a long way.

Connor Greenwald proved that to be true when he rushed for 227 yards Saturday to lead Prairie Ridge to its first IHSA Class 6A semifinal victory in school history.

The senior running back attributed the boiling disappointment he felt after fumbling the ball three times last season in the Wolves’ 14-7 loss to Boylan in the 6A semifinal for his incredible – and more than redemptive – performance.

“I thought about it all the time,” Greenwald said. “I watched the tape from last year’s game right before the game today and it made me so angry.”

Greenwald unleashed that anger on Batavia’s defense, leading all rushers with two touchdowns on 26 carries without a fumble, as the Wolves beat the Bulldogs, 33-22, and secured a spot in the final Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Champaign.

“The feeling is indescribable,” Greenwald said. “How far we’ve come and how hard we’ve worked to get here, we’re finally over the hump. It feels incredible.”

Thanks to Greenwald, the Wolves were able to establish a potent rushing attack early in the game, which proved to be an advantage on a day with wind gusts exceeding 20 mph.

“I think the wind was a pretty big factor in the game,” Bulldogs coach Dennis Piron said. “It kept us from being as balanced as we usually like to be.”

Greenwald took a handoff 58 yards on the first play of the game and finished with 135 yards, including a 30-yard touchdown that gave the Wolves a 13-7 lead in the second quarter.

Batavia retaliated with a 38-yard touchdown pass into the wind to take a 14-13 lead at halftime, but the attention Greenwald demanded from the Bulldogs’ defense would be used to benefit the Wolves on a critical fourth-down conversion in the third quarter.

On their first possession in the third quarter, the Wolves elected to take a chance on fourth-and-one at the Bulldogs’ 41. Wolves quarterback Nick Nissen faked an inside handoff to Greenwald, and the Bulldogs’ defense bit, leaving Jordan Getzelman wide open to take a quick pitch 23 yards up the right sideline. On the next play, Getzelman took a handoff 18 yards to the endzone to give the Wolves a lead, 20-14, that they would hold on to the rest of the way.

Getzelman finished the game with 105 yards and a touchdown.

“We all watched the game,” Piron said. “[Because of Prairie Ridge’s option offense] we all had trouble finding which way the ball was going.”