RANTOUL -- Someone made a good call on Friday when the preliminary freshman game that was to  precede the Mahomet-Seymour football game at Rantoul was postponed until Monday.

It meant the the varsity teams were able to take the field under the best possible conditions on a rainy day. Had the underclassmen game been played, footing would have been even more difficult than it was with players losing traction just about every possession.

Mahomet-Seymour showed its versatility on offense with 10 different players running the ball from scrimmage or catching a pass.

If someone were only looking at one statistical indicator, they might have concluded this was a close, competitive game. When Rantoul's Tyler Hines gained 4 yards and recorded a first down in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, both the Eagles and the Bulldogs had an identical number of first downs, 9-9.

M-S wound up getting three more on its final possession to salvage a 12-9 edge on first downs.

The scoreboard was a different story. The Bulldogs posted a 51-0 victory. Their first down total was low due to four first-half scoring drives that consumed no more than three plays.

M-S senior Andrew Brewer showed his versatility. He took the opening kickoff back for a TD, he ran 50 for a score on a play where the ball was hiked to him, he ran 35 yards for a score after taking a handoff from Dylan Howard and he returned a punt for a TD.

His four touchdowns and 250 all-purpose yards all came in the first 16 minutes, 31 seconds. Brewer didn't even step on the field with the offense after intermission.

The Bulldogs' offense put up five TDs before nine minutes had elapsed and led 51-0 with 7:03 left in the second quarter.

M-S' defense had its share of heroes. The team intercepted almost as many passes (five) as it allowed Rantoul to complete (six). Taylor Stahl picked off two of the passes.

Bob Schroeder had six tackles as did teammate Alex Kocher. Stahl had five tackles.

Congratulations to the eight News-Gazette area schools which have won all three of their games thus far. Besides M-S, the other unbeatens are Champaign Central, Danville, Salt Fork, St. Thomas More, Fisher, Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley and Villa Grove.

My early-season travels been have a treat. In Week 1, I saw a team which is now 3-0 (Salt Fork) and in Week 2, I saw another team which is now 3-0 (Villa Grove). M-S completed the trifecta on Friday.

For the 26th year, Rantoul recognized its Hall of Fame inductees during a special halftime ceremony. It's always nice to see schools honor its athletic greats from the past.

This year's Hall of Fame class consisted of Larry Exton (1954), Larry Mullins (1991) and Kari Franzen Ackerman (1996).

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