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After a good early start in the first quarter, the Illini West Chargers found much less success in the game’s final three periods, as they eventually fell to the host Macomb Bombers, 38-12. Both teams came into last Friday night’s contest with identical 1-1 records and looking to get not only a leg up in the conference standings, but also in the season’s early play-off push. Macomb did just that with the win, while the Chargers will have to regroup for their game this week, as they will host a resurgent South Fulton Rebel squad that will come in sporting a record of 2-1.
The Chargers took the game’s opening kick-off and drove 75 yards to score the first points of the night. The key play on the drive was a 38-yard pass from junior quarterback Max Kinnamon to classmate Nick Johnson. A 14-yard run by senior halfback Ian Bentzinger got Illini West’s offense inside the Bomber 10-yard line and Johnson culminated the drive a couple of plays later with a 2-yard touchdown dive. The Bombers’ defense was able to turn away the 2-pt conversion attempt, but Illini West still led after only four minutes of play, 6-0.
The Bombers would soon respond with a touchdown of their own on their first possession, mixing the run and pass successfully to soon score their first TD of the game. A successful conversion pass would put the Bombers in front 8-6 midway through the first quarter,
The host Bombers would soon build upon that lead after regaining possession late in the first quarter. This time Macomb would run the ball into the endzone to push their early advantage to 14-6. The Illini West defense did turn away the Bomber conversion attempt keeping the Chargers at a one score deficit.
The Charger offense would quickly respond this time with their second scoring drive of the game mixing the hard running of Bentzinger, Johnson, and sophomore Isaiah Knotts, with some nice pass completions from Kinnamon to Johnson and Benzinger, the Chargers would march down 65 yards to the Bomber 1-yard line. Knotts would blast over from there and close the Bomber advantage to 14-12 with 8:02 left in the second quarter. Unfortunately, that would be as close as the Chargers would get in this contest.
The Bombers quickly grabbed the momentum and control of the game as they added three more scores in that final 8 minutes of the second quarter to take a 30-12 halftime lead. Macomb would eventually score once more in the 2nd half to set the game’s final score at 38-12. Illini West just couldn’t sustain any sort of offensive drive in the game’s second half to somehow put together a comeback attempt.
The Charger offensive stats pretty much reflect the 1st half success and the 2nd half futility. Almost all of the Chargers 180 yards of offense were gained in those first two early scoring drives. The Bomber offense did a good job of maintaining possession of the football after the Charger’s second score and the Charger defense could not the big stop when trying to regain possession.
The Chargers leading ball carrier was Bentzinger with 11 carries for 62 yards. Johnson added 16 yards on 6 carries, while Kinnamon had 12 yards and Knotts finished with 9. Kinnamon also connected on 5 of his 12 pass attempts for 81 yards. Johnson had 59 yards on 3 catches, while Bentzinger hauled in two grabs for 19 yards, and senior end Lucas Finch had a single catch for 3 yards.
Bentzinger was the Chargers leading tackler from his linebacker spot with 9 total tackle involvements (solo tackles and assisted tackles combined). Junior linebacker Shawn Watkins added 7 total tackles, while Johnson, senior safety Bradly Miller and senior linebacker Thomas Chandler totaled 6 stops apiece.
Junior defensive end Roan Jackson and junior outside linebacker Brady Blanton had 4 stops apiece, junior defensive back Tre Neiderman and sophomore defensive end Izik Jones were involved in 3 tackles apiece. Also, on the tackle chart were seniors Nick Huls, Lucas Finch, and Jorge Espinoza, junior Stephen Sparks and sophomore Ethan Carlisle.
The Chargers will return to action this upcoming weekend when they play a Saturday morning game against the previously mentioned South Fulton Rebels.
Please note that this game will kick-off at 11:00am.
The unusual game day and start time were the result of the recurring difficulty in finding enough officials to work high school football games throughout the area and the state.
This game also will be the 2023 Homecoming for the Chargers and the Illini West students and fans.