The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The devastating "one-two" punch of duo Kaiden Droste and Mason Carnes propelled the West Central Heat into the Final Four of the 8 man Illinois State Tournament with a convincing 56 to 28 win over the SoBo's of South Beloit.
Droste scored the first two of his four tallies in the 1st quarter and added two more in the 3rd quarter. Carnes punched over two of his 3 TD's in the 2nd quarter and added his third with 5:34 remaining in the 3rd quarter.
Colton Fletcher added the finishing touch with a 4th quarter TD which induced the running clock for the remainder of the game.
Mason Carnes had two important pass completions of 10 and 15 yards to Andy Lumbeck, but it was the torrid ground game which produced 304 yards and the victory.
First quarter action was fairly even as the teams traded possessions but it was the Heat who took the lead at 8 to 0 with 3:33 remaining in the quarter.
The Sobo's shook off the Heat's first score and came back 2 minutes later with a score of their own to knot it up at 8-8 with 1:05 remaining.
The Heat came back just 43 seconds later with Droste's 2nd TD (a 40 yd. run) to push the lead to 16-8 and that was where the quarter ended.
The Heat would add 14 second quarter points with Mason Carnes providing the scores to build the lead to 30 to 8 but the Sobos were able to cash in on another late quarter drive for a score and the half ended with the Heat on top 30 to 14.
West Central owned the 3rd quarter with Droste putting up 2 more TD's and the Heat were well on their way and owners of a 50 to 14 lead at the end of the 3rd quarter.
Colton Fletcher scored his TD with only 54 seconds gone in the 4th quarter stretching the lead to 50 to 14. Fletcher's score was set up when Brady McGraw forced a fumble which Colton scooped up and ran in. South Beloit added two late 4th quarter scores but it was too little too late for the Sobos.
Defensively the Heat once again held their opponent in check by limiting the Sobos to 133 rushing yards and 29 yards passing. Parker Meldrum led the way with 8 solos and 8 assists.
Devin Shaw was an eyelash behind Parker with 5 solos and 7 assists. Kaiden Droste had 7 solos and 2 assists. Brady McGraw had 2 and 3, Dexter Ricketts 1 and 4, Colton Fletcher 3 and 2, Walker Conchas 3 and 1, Kolton Bell 2 solos, Nick Woods 1 solo and Hunter Shrader and Matthew Dunn each had an assist.
This all adds up to a resounding TEAM EFFORT!!
The 4th seeded Heat (9-2) will now take on the number 1 seeded team, Polo (11-0), next week in the semi-final round of the playoffs.
On the other side of the bracket 10th seeded Amboy-Lamoille (7-4) will be facing off against 3rd seeded Orangeville (10-1).
As a rule, coaches do not want their team to look ahead, but rather, focus on the next game and that is a good rule to follow.
However, fans, in some cases, can't help but look ahead.
The Heat suffered two losses during the season when they were short-handed several of their key performers. First Amboy, then the following week Freeport-Aquin, hung back to back losses on the Heat.
Amboy defeated Freeport 52 to 28 in the first round of the playoffs.
Wouldn't it be great if the Heat had an opportunity to play Amboy-Lamoille in the finals on November 19, 2021 in a 1 p.m. game at Monmouth College. They would have the opportunity to avenge both of their previous defeats!!