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Unable to overcome untimely turnovers and penalties, the Illini West Chargers fell on the road to the Macomb Bombers 28-8.
The Chargers lost a pair of first half fumbles which led to Macomb touchdown drives on a short field and put IW in a hole they could never crawl out of in losing their second straight West Central Conference game.
The Chargers are now 0-2 in the WCC and 2-3 overall.
After their first fumble gave Macomb an early 6-0 advantage, the Chargers responded by driving the length of the field. The final 28 yards came on a touchdown toss from sophomore QB Kennedy Gooding to junior running back Joe Adkisson.
The same tandem hooked up for a successful conversion pass and an 8-6 lead to end the first quarter.
The Charger defense forced a Bomber punt on Macomb's next possession and Charger running back Connor Artman took that punt return 80 plus yards back for an apparent IW touchdown.
A Charger penalty called that score back, they fumbled for the second time a couple of plays later, and that seemed to take the wind out of the Charger's sails on this night.
The Bombers out gained the Chargers 305 yards to 233 yards. The Macomb ground attack was especially effective as they rushed for 284 yards on 36 carries. The Chargers could only counter with 175 yards on 43 rush attempts.
Kyle Tanner picked up 65 tough yards on 21 attempts to lead IW, while Artman added 64 yards on 8 carries. Adkisson had 30 yards on 6 rushes and Christian Peacock picked up 15 yards on 4 carries.
Gooding connected on 4 of his 7 pass attempts for 58 yards. Adkisson had 2 catches for 31 yards and Peyton Smith had a pair of receptions for 27 yards.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Charger tackle chart was led by Alex McCune with 9 total tackles, while Taylor Boston, Christian Peacock, and Brandon Stranuch chipped in with 8 each.
Jace Norman and Aden Trout had 5 stops each, while Artman, Jordan Patrick, Kyle Tanner, Nick Greenslaugh, Brice Cook, Dominica Foster, an Jensen Corzatt had between 2 and 4 tackles each.
The Chargers will host Monmouth-Roseville this coming Friday at Carthage.
It will be the 2015 Homecoming for Illini West and the game is set to kick-off at 7:00 p.m.