Chicago-Area High School Football News and Scores | Season Pass

Already holding a long list of rushing records for each of their respective programs, Waubonsie Valley’s Austin Guido and Neuqua Valley’s Joey Rhattigan will meet for one last time this weekend when fourth-seeded Waubonsie Valley visits top-seeded Neuqua Valley in a Class 8A state quarterfinal.

Five weeks ago, when Neuqua Valley came away with a 35-34, double-overtime victory over Waubonsie Valley at North Central College on Oct. 5, the leaders of their respective offenses didn’t disappoint.

Running 34 times for 131 yards and three touchdowns against the Warriors, Rhattigan picked up where he left off in the teams’ meeting a year ago, won by Waubonsie Valley 27-21 in overtime, when he ran for 241 yards and three scores.

“As a team, I think that we’re motivated to play Waubonsie, but for me personally, I was stopped fourth-and-2 (in overtime last year),” Rhattigan said on Oct. 5. “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 stat-wise between the two during the first meeting, rushing for 255 yards and a touchdown on 37 carries.

“It’s a credit to all the guys that are blocking for him,'' Waubonsie Valley coach Paul Murphy said of his 5-foot-10, 190-pound tailback's success last month. ''It’s a credit to his ability, but we’re not gonna worry about celebrating until after the season.

''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.”
 

                                Austin Guido (Waubonsie Valley)                Joey Rhattigan (Neuqua Valley)

Height:                                  5-10                                                           6-0

Weight:                                  190                                                            201

Carries:                                  292                                                            234

Yards:                                   2,236                                                         1,855

YPC:                                       7.7                                                             7.9

YPG:                                      203.3                                                         168.6

TDs:                                        30                                                               30

10/5/2012:             37 carries, 255 yards, TD                          34 carries, 131 yards, 3 TDs