Aurora Christian’s Owen Hampton didn’t have much of a choice.
Whether he was meant to be a wide receiver or not, Hampton became one basically by necessity while growing up. He was going to be catching the football, not throwing it.
That’s because Owen, a 6-foot-1, 165-pound junior, is the younger brother of Ethan, a redshirt freshman quarterback at Northern Illinois who also played for the Eagles.
One was always the thrower. One was always the catcher.
“Owen likes to throw it too, but I tell him, ‘You’re a wide receiver,'” Aurora Christian coach David Beebe said. “He had Ethan throwing bullets at him the last 10 years, so that’s why he catches the ball so well. And it doesn’t hurt to have the web hands that he has.
“I’m proud of him. He had a good game.”
Hampton caught six passes for 129 yards and two touchdowns Saturday in the first round of the Class 1A playoffs, but it wasn’t enough to overcome host Fulton in a 38-13 loss.
The Steamers (8-2) placed second in the Northwest Upstate Illini Conference to Lena-Winslow (9-0), the team that ousted the Eagles (5-5) in last year’s first round.
“They’ve got a ton of seniors, played well and deserved to win,” Beebe said of Fulton. “But we really hurt ourselves. This formula has got to change, and it starts with me.
“I have to do something different because we keep coming out here at 5-4 and play a real high seed and just play good enough to lose again. We can’t do this anymore.”
Fulton advances to the second round and will play Rockford Lutheran, which beat Kewanee Wethersfield 35-19.
The teams actually played even on offense, with Aurora Christian taking a 314-313 advantage in total yards.
The Eagles were done in, however, by 104 yards in penalties to 48 for the Steamers and also lost the battle for field position.
Junior quarterback Max Bray was sacked three times for the Eagles and was under pressure throughout. He completed 18 of 28 passes for 228 yards.
“I thought we were prepared for their linebacker blitzes pretty well,” Bray said. “But it seemed like their defensive line stunts and shifting gave us some trouble.”
Lukas Schroeder ran for 135 yards and two TDs on 15 carries to power a Fulton ground game that accounted for 231 yards.
Still, Hampton scored on a 16-yard TD pass from Bray to force a 7-7 tie in the first quarter.
The Steamers then scored 17 straight points before Bray hooked up again with Hampton on the last play of the first half.
His long pass covered 47 yards to pull the Eagles, who were set to receive the kickoff the start the third quarter, within 24-13 heading into halftime.
“I underthrew Owen a couple times pretty bad,” Bray said. “But that one was about 50 yards. I rolled left and they flooded the left, so I had to stop and throw right.
“It was a good call. Owen was on the backside, the right, and they gave him some space.”
Hampton and Bray have been together since freshman year, developing a good connection.
“It was a perfect long throw in the end zone,” Hampton said.
Hampton’s diving catch was perfected by years of work at home with his brother Ethan.
“He would always throw to me and even let me play with his friends,” said Owen, who grew six inches before this season and has improved dramatically. “Having a younger brother can be a bit of a drag, but him asking me to join them meant the world.”
They also worked indoors, mostly in the basement after their mother, Midge, got tired of losing vases.
“She didn’t like when we used a real ball, so we had to buy a couple foam balls,” Owen said. “No real balls in the house.”
Wisely, they caught on.