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The Illini West Varsity football team bounced back from their season-opening loss to beat the newly-formed L-V-C Miners, 34 – 8 last Friday night at Lewistown. LVC, which includes Lewistown, Valley and Cuba High Schools in the football co-op program falls to 0 – 2 this season, while IW improves to 1 – 1 overall.
The Chargers got the win despite a difficult week of practice that saw several players missing due to illness. Even Friday night the Chargers were still shorted-handed as three starters missed the contest with illness. Fortunately, Illini West still had enough playmakers to overcome the Miners.
The Chargers got on the board first, midway through the first quarter, when senior quarterback Gannon Bergmann found classmate Peyton Brown with a short pass that the senior running back took 28 yards for the game’s opening score. The conversion attempt failed, which left IW up at 6 – 0.
Illini West added to that advantage when senior Jerick LeMaire took an LVC punt back 40 yards for another Charger touchdown with 9 seconds left to play in the 1st quarter. This time IW added the conversion on a successful Peyton Brown run to push their advantage to 14 – 0 at the end of the 1st quarter.
With 8:02 on the clock in the 2nd period, Bergmann went to the air again and this time he found senior wide receiver Max Dittmer for a 42-yard touchdown pass and catch and run. LVC was able to stop the point after try, so IW now led 20 – 0.
LVC responded this time with a nice scoring drive of their own, mixing power running and some short passes to drive 75 yards to their first score of the contest. A successful conversion run closed the Charger lead to 20 – 8. The score remained 20 – 8 heading into the halftime intermission.
The 2nd half saw LVC take the opening kick-off and begin another strong mark down the field. Faced with 4th and one at the Charger 20-yard line, LVC decided to go with a power run off-tackle. IW senior linebacker, Thomas Chandler, would then make what turned out to be the pivotal play of the game as he shot the gap over the offensive right side and pounded the Miner running back to the turf for a 2-yard loss. After this play and the ensuing Charger response offensively, the Miners seemed to forfeit all hope of winning this game.
The Chargers got the ball back after Chandler’s play and moved it quickly to near midfield. Bergmann then found LeMaire in the right flat on a short pass, which the senior wide receiver then turned into a 54-yard touchdown sprint down the IW sideline. The conversion pass failed, but IW now led 26 – 8.
The Charger defense, now playing with renewed resolve, seemed to be in the Miner backfield for much of the remainder of the contest. The Miner QB was chased and harassed into poor pass attempts or tackles for loss. Overall, the Miners ran 45 plays on the night, with less than 3 yards gained per play.
The Chargers would tack on one more touchdown on the night when they capped a nice drive with at 3-yard touchdown toss from Bergmann to LeMaire. Bergmann would run in the 2-point conversion to set the game’s final score at 34 – 8.
Offensively, Illini West would pick up 305 yards on the night on 43 plays. The bulk of that yardage came via the pass as Bergmann completed 15 of 26 attempts for 208 yards and four touchdowns, without an interception. The senior signal-caller showed significant improvement from his week one performance.
LeMaire would finish with 3 receptions for 62 yards and 2 touchdowns in the contest. Dittmer grabbed 2 passes for 61 yards and a TD. Bryan Rivera had 2 grabs for 19 yards, Aiden Moore had a pair of receptions for 13 yards, ad Drake Mudd also had 2 catches for 8 yards. Brown (28-yard TD grab), Stephen Sparks (10 yards), Jorge Espinosa (5 yards) and Nick Johnson (2 yards) all caught a single pass in the Charger air attack.
On the ground, Illini West rushed 17 times for 97 yards. The IW rushing leader was Brown with 7 rushes for 57 yards. Chandler had 3 rush attempts for 24 yards, while Bergmann added 5 runs for 21 yards.
On the downside, IW was penalized 6 times for 55 yards, however this disadvantage was offset by having no turnovers, while taking the ball away from LVC 3 times. The penalties need to be cleaned up, but the 3-0 turnover advantage was a huge advantage for the Chargers in this contest.
The Charger tackle chart was led by 7 tackles apiece for Dittmer and LeMaire. Junior linebacker Bradley Miller secured 5 tackles, while Brown was involved in three. Chandler, Kaleb Crenshaw, Moore, Espinosa, Shawn Watkins and Nick Huls were all involved in a pair of tackles. Braxton Heath, Lucas Finch, Stephen Sparks, Levi Kissinger and Drake Mudd also found their way onto the tackle chart with single tackles. Mudd also added a big first half interception to the Charger defensive cause.
The Chargers will return to action this Friday evening when they host the visiting Havana Ducks for a 7pm contest. Both teams are 1 – 1 overall, so it figures to be a tough Prairieland battle between the two teams seeking to build early season momentum.
#6 Illini West Senior Jerick LeMaire hustling the ball with Aiden Moore-23, Shawn Watkins-34 and Ian Bentzinger-12 in action for the Chargers. -Rick Goettsche photo