The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The Illini West Chargers traveled to Peoria Heights last Saturday afternoon to play a conference game. With temperatures at plus 90 degrees, the heat would take a toll on both teams.
Peoria Heights received the ball first and used a 23 yard pass, a 35 yard gain rushing, and a 15 yard touchdown pass to jump to a 6-0 lead.
Illini West's, Weston Pollock received the Peoria Height's kick-off and went from the 35 yard line up to the 48 yard line. Nick Voorhies carried 3 times for 19 yards. Pollock ran for 15 more yards. Voorhies gained 4 and Colton Sargent gained 13 yards. Nick Voorhies ran the final 2 yards for a TD. Extra point failed and with 4:05 left in the first quarter the score stood at 6-6.
Peoria Heights pushed the ball down inside the 20 yard line of Illini West on a 47 yard run. Chargers defense stiffened and stopped Peoria Heights on downs. The Chargers moved the ball into Peoria Heights territory as the 1st quarter ended with the score still 6-6.
The Chargers stayed with their ground game and capped off the 12 play drive with a 9 yard run by Voorhies. Voorhies was the work horse as he carried 9 times for 52 yards on the drive. Colton Sargent had 1 carry for 17 yards, Jackson Porter had 1 carry for 6 yards, and Weston Pollock had 1 carry for 7 yards. Colton Sargent ran the extra point in for a 14-6 lead.
Two plays following the Illini West kick-off, Jake Cole recovered a fumble at the 42 yard line.
Pollock ran for 20 yards, Voorhies added 6, Sargent raced for 11 yards and Michael Lord scored from 5 yards out to push the score to 20-6.
Peoria Heights got the ball on their own 43 and immediately hit a 20 yard pass to the Illini West 37 yard line. On 4th and 5 yards to go Colton Sargent intercepted a pass near the 5 yard line and ran it back 89 yards to the yard line. A blocking penalty negated the long run and the Chargers had to take it at their own 39 yard line. 8 running plays later and the Chargers scored on a Michael Lord 4 yard run. Pollock added the 2 point play and Illini West now led 28-6.
Peoria Heights received the kick off and advanced it to their own 45 yard line with just 24 seconds left in the half. 3 passing plays later and the Peoria Heights team scored a touchdown as time ran out. Extra point was no good but lead was now just 28-12 for the Chargers.
The Chargers took their opening drive 53 yards on 9 plays for another score. Pollock ran 4 of the plays for 26 yards, scoring on a 4 yard run. Voorhies had 3 rushes for 15 yards and Lord ran once for 12 yards. Extra point failed. Score now 34-12.
Peoria Heights received the next kickoff and started on their own 44 yard line. Illini West's Ty Jackson sacked the Peoria Heights quarterback for a 7 yard loss. On the next play the snap from center went over the head of the quarterback and Kennedy Gooding recovered the fumble at the 15 yard line.
Pollock ran for 6 yards and on second down Voorhies ran 9 yards for the score.
Voorhies ran the extra point in and Illini West led 42-12.
Peoria Heights added a touchdown and 2 point conversion to start the 4th quarter.
Illini West got the ball near midfield and on their 3rd play from scrimmage, Nick Voorhies ran for 41 yard and his 4th touchdown of the day. Pollock ran the two point conversion in and Illini West led 50-20.
Peoria Heights would score 1 more touchdown to make the final score 50-26 in favor of the Chargers.
For Illini West, unofficial stats had Voorhies with 24 carries and 178 yards, Pollock with 13 carries and 129 yards, Sargent with 3 carries for 53 yards, Lord with 7 carries for 54 yards and Porter 3 carries for 8 yards.
The offensive line did a very good job blocking for the running backs allowing 400 + yards gained on the ground. These linemen: Ty Jackson-center, guards Tanner Coulter and Jake Garnett, tackles Jake Cole and Kennedy Gooding, and tight ends Carter Boyer and Matt Greiner all deserve lot of credit for controlling the line of scrimmage and opening up holes for the runners.
Illini West, with a 3-2 record, take on the tough Brimfield/Elmwood co-op on Friday, September 29, for their homecoming at 7:00 p.m. in Carthage.