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Week 8 prep football highlights

Posted by: Fred Kroner

Saturday, October 17, 2009 2:00 AM

Just one week left in the high school regular season and lots of activity to cover from Week 8.

Be sure to pick up a Sunday edition of The News-Gazette to check out the updated area top 10 rankings in football.

Let's take a look back at the week which just ended.

HAPPY HOMECOMING
Milford/Cissna Park played a road game Friday at Oakwood/Armstrong-Potomac, but a former Bearcats’ quarterback saw his alma mater play for the first time in more than 15 years. John Crook took a day off from his second-shift job in Missouri as a warehouse manager with Coca-Cola to watch a rematch on the same field and against the same school he had one of his most memorable games. As a junior in 1982, Crook and Milford needed three overtimes to defeat the Comets, 28-26. “It was the first game I started at quarterback,” Crook said. The opposing quarterback was future major-leaguer Darrin Fletcher, whose Oakwood team was among the state’s top-ranked teams. The winning score came after Milford changed its plan of attack. “We’d been running off-tackle all night,” Crook said, “and we ran a bootleg and I passed to Tom Evans (for a TD). Robert Rogers ran in what proved to be the decisive two-point conversion.

MORE HALL-OF-FAMERS FOR UHS
Urbana’s Hall of Fame grew by five persons when the 2009 inductees were introduced at the school’s homecoming game. Three of those newly enshrined were former football standouts: Mark Pelmore (1987), Steve Waller (1992) and Brandon McFarland (2001) along with basketball stalwart LaToya Bond (2002) and soccer/wrestling star Ryan Busey (2002). Pelmore broke the Twin City single-game rushing record as a senior with a 311-yard performance. He later played football at North Alabama. Waller quarterbacked the Tigers to back-to-back playoff appearances (1990 and ‘91) and is the last athlete at the school to pitch a no-hitter in baseball. McFarland was a receiver in football and an All-Area pick in baseball, a sport he played at both Kankakee Community College and Grand Valley State. Bond, a former Area Player of the Year, is playing basketball professionally in Poland. She holds track school records in the high jump and triple jump. Busey won 100 career matches in wrestling and set the school’s all-time takedown record. He earned All-Area accolades twice in soccer.

LISTENING TO THE COACH
At halftime of his team’s win at Cerro Gordo, Villa Grove coach Chad Musselman implored his players to not relax after building a 22-0 lead at the break. My speech was, ‘Don’t let up. Make sure you concentrate,’” he said. His Blue Devils followed instructions. On eight of VG’s first 12 second-half plays, it registered first downs. On three of the plays, the Blue Devils reached the end zone as the lead grew to 36-0. John Turner and Earvin Westray each had three of the first-down runs and Eric Douglas had the other two.

CONFERENCE CLINCHERS
The automatic playoff bid was determined this weekend in five area conferences. In the Big 12, Danville will be the official league representative since the only school which can tie the Vikings for first (Bloomington) is a team Danville beat. In the Corn Belt, unbeaten Rochester will be considered the top team even if there’s a two-way because it defeated the only remaining one-loss team (Mahomet-Seymour). In the Heart of Illinois, Lexington completed league play a week ahead of everyone else and with an unblemished record. The same scenario occurred in the Sangamon Valley Conference, where top honors were claimed by St. Thomas More’s unbeaten Sabers. In the Little Okaw Valley Conference, there’s currently a three-way tie, but not more than two squads will share the top spot next Sunday since Arthur-Lovington plays at Villa Grove in Week 9. The other team sharing first is Tri-County, which will be the league’s official conference champion (for IHSA purposes) in the event of a two-way tie if Villa Grove wins next week, but not if Arthur-Lovington prevails. There’s not a lot of drama left in the Vermilion Valley. Milford/Cissna Park, which is currently in a three-way tie, will get the nod as the IHSA’s official league representative with a Week 9 win since it has wins over both of the schools that also share first: Salt Fork and Oakwood/Armstrong-Potomac. MCP plays Hoopeston Area next week while O/A-P and Salt Fork collide in Catlin.

THE FIRST TO 2,000
Dylan Sturgeon, Unity’s senior quarterback, became the first area athlete this season with at least 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards passing as the Rockets won their eighth consecutive game. After Friday’s game at Clinton, Sturgeon has 1,288 rushing yards and 1,036 passing yards this season.

BUBBLE TEAMS
Seven area schools have 4-4 season records entering the last week of play and need a victory to become playoff eligible. One of those teams is guaranteed of a win because Cerro Gordo/DeLand-Weldon plays at South Piatt. Both, however, will be bubble teams as far as playoff points. South Piatt will finish with either 37 or 38 and CG/D-W will have 33 or 34. In the Big 12, Centennial and Central are each 4-4 and will finish with 40 playoff points, which should be good enough for a playoff berth if they get to five wins. Central plays host to Normal Community and Centennial travels to Normal West. Watseka is 4-4 entering its game at Iroquois West, but the Warriors are not guaranteed of more than 32 playoff points. Bismarck-Henning closes at home against Schlarman and will have at least 46 points and perhaps as many as 48 which makes the Blue Devils a virtual lock for the playoffs with one more win. Argenta-Oreana, coming off a 2-7 season, closes at Tuscola. A-O is assured of at least 38 playoff points and that could rise to 40. The cutoff each of the last two years has been 36 points.

NOTEBOOK ITEMS
After three quarters on Friday, Villa Grove had been whistled for 12 penalties covering 85 yards. In one possession the team had holding calls on consecutive plays. “We got some silly penalties and that’s upsetting,” Musselman said. ... Danville was without Mario Crosby for its game at Normal Community, but the team’s No. 2 rusher will be back for the regular-season finale. ... Normal Community became the eighth consecutive team not to have a 100-yard rusher against Danville. The Ironmen totaled 83 yards rushing as a team. ... Monticello’s Ben Palla needs 52 more passing yards to reach 2,000 for the season. ... Arthur-Lovington has a new career rushing leader. Justin Schuring raised his varsity total to 2,219 yards, 63 more than previous leader Zack Kingery. ... Cale Huisinga continues to set new receiving standards at Monticello. With five catches against Shelbyville, his still-rising career-record total stands at 91. He needs four more catches to move into a tie for 50th on the IHSA’s all-time career charts for receptions. ... Rantoul’s Josh Monroe rushed for 149 yards against Eureka, his first 100-yard performance. ... Rantoul and Eureka combined for 20 penalties totaling 157 yards. ... Tuscola’s fifth win was also its fifth shutout. ... Nathan Lawler’s school-record career passing total at Cerro Gordo stands at 3,664 yards after he threw for 61 against Villa Grove. He has 35 TD passes.

GAME BALLS

SHAQUILLE TRAYLOR, Centennial. Junior accounted for 81 percent of the Chargers’ total offense (230 of 283 yards) and scored three TDs in the 27-21 overtime conquest of previously state-ranked Champaign Central.

REED COLLINS, Bismarck-Henning. Sophomore posted his third successive 100-yard rushing performance, gaining 260 yards and scoring six of his team’s seven TDs in a win at Georgetown-Ridge Farm/Chrisman.

KRISTOPHER EVANS, Milford/Cissna Park. Senior quarterback rushed for two touchdowns, passed for one, handed off to twin brother Kyle for a fourth and booted three extra points as the Bearcats clinched a share of the VVC championship with a 15-point win on the road at Oakwood.

TRAVIS HILL, Mahomet-Seymour. Junior who had 56 yards rushing for the season was pressed into duty due to injuries and responded with a 211-yard effort at home in a 24-6 win over Olympia.

COLIN AUTH, South Piatt. Senior, one of the area’s top interceptors, had 15 tackles, and an 82-yard kickoff return as well as catching a touchdown pass from Randy Crist in a 26-7 win at Arcola.

TEAMS OF THE WEEK

VILLA GROVE
The Blue Devils averaged 8.2 yards per running play and amassed 477 rushing yards in a 50-22 win at Cerro Gordo. Five backs rushed for at least 25 yards. Team leader John Turner (210 yards) had seven double-digit runs and teammate Earvin Westray had four.

ST. THOMAS MORE
The Sabers broke their school record for wins in a season (seven), rolling up their eighth straight victory in an overpowering 62-6 triumph over visiting Iroquois West. STM scored nine TDs after falling behind 6-0. The defense held IW to 66 total yards.