The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The Illini West Chargers dropped their 5th straight game with a 36-6 road loss to the West Hancock Titans. The Chargers fell to 2-6 overall and will finish their season next week also on the road at Tolono Unity.
Early mistakes by IW and a strong running game by West Hancock pushed the host Titans to a 28 -0 lead through three quarters before the Chargers could find the endzone. Illini West finally scored with 4 minutes left on 19-yard pass from sophomore QB Kennedy Gooding to classmate Connor Artman.
That was the lone bright spot on this night for the Chargers who gave up 233 yards rushing the Titans, who controlled the game with pounding run by their big fullback. The Chargers countered with 157 yards on the ground and 24 through the air.
Senior running back Kyle Tanner gained 60 yards for IW, while Artman picked up 54. Junior halfback Joe Adkisson rushed for 39 yards, Christian Peacock picked up 13, Gooding gained 7, and Brice Cook added 2 carries for 4 yards. Artman also had 2 pass receptions for 28 yards.
The Charger defense was led by Tanner's 14 total tackles and Peacock's 12 total tackles. Tackle Brandon Stanuch was involved in 11 stops, with Taylor Boston involved in 10. Others on the IW tackle chart were Brice Cook (7 tackles), Ross Neff (5), Connor Artman (4), Aden Trout (3), Jordan Patrick (2) Parker Yard (2) Jace Norman (1) and Peyton Smith (1).
The Chargers will travel across the state to play Tolono Unity this Friday night. Their will be a junior varsity preliminary game that will kick off at 5:00 p.m. and the varsity contest is slated to start at 7:00 p.m.