Luke Vanderwiel has the speed needed to break off an 80-yard touchdown run against one of the area’s elite defenses as he did Friday night.
But that’s only part of the reason why the Prairie Ridge quarterback is one of the state’s most exciting players.
The 5-9, 180-pounder’s highlight-reel ability to change direction on a dime is the other part of his game that makes him so much fun to watch.
The latter was on display late in the first half of a 34-21 Fox Valley win at Cary-Grove. The Wolves were looking to add to their seven-point lead when Vanderwiel took the snap and was almost swarmed over for a loss on the left side of the field.
But he wriggled free and ran all the way over to the right sideline before turning upfield for a 25-yard touchdown.
Prairie Ridge fullback Jake Wagler wasn’t the least bit surprised by Vanderwiel’s escape act, saying the Wolves see something similar “almost every day. It’s something he’s been doing forever, all throughout Junior Wolves and obviously high school.
“It’s crazy, but it’s what he does.”
Vanderwiel had 200 yards and three touchdowns by halftime — including that 80-yarder on the last play of the first quarter — as the Wolves opened a 21-6 lead. He finished with 242 yards and four TDs on 27 carries after a pair of kneel-downs to end the game.
“Honestly, I [got] emotional after [the game] just because it meant so much for my whole team because this is what we work all summer for,” Vanderwiel said. “And for it to pay off just means more than anything.”
Wagler, a 6-4, 220-pound junior, is the perfect complement to Vanderwiel in the Wolves’ option offense. Prairie Ridge leaned on Wagler in the second half, when he ran for 84 of his 98 yards and scored the Wolves’ other TD.
“You look at him, he’s a beast,” Vanderwiel said. “He runs so hard and I want to give him the ball even more than we did today.”
“I thought Luke kind of provides that lightning with that explosive play and then Jake is kind of that thunder,” Prairie Ridge coach Mike Frerichs said. “Second half, he really started developing our run game and really kind of made it tough for them because he was chunking up big plays at the end.”
Cary-Grove’s Ryan Lummis ran for 80 yards, including a 39-yard touchdown. Quarterback Jackson Bermdt ran for 62 yards and two TDs and passed for 32 yards.
Senior fullback/linebacker Logan Abrams, the offensive star of Cary-Grove’s win over East St. Louis in the 2023 Class 6A state final, only played defense on Friday.
“We really, really wanted to stop Luke and it didn’t work out,” Cary-Grove coach Brad Seaburg said of the decision to limit Abrams to one side of the ball.
“We did [think of playing him on offense],” Seaburg said. “But we thought it gave us the best chance, playing him on defense.”
Will Abrams play offense next week when the Trojans go to Burlington Central?
“We’ll see,” Seaburg said.