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The Illini West Chargers returned to the gridiron last Friday night for a 2nd consecutive home game and made short work of the visiting LVC Miners in posting a decisive 46-14 victory. The Chargers win improves their season record to 3-2 overall, while dropping the Miners to a winless 0-5 slate.
The Chargers scored early and often in this contest, making short work of an undermanned LVC squad.
After kicking off to open the game, the Charger defense quickly got the ball back for it’s offense.
Facing 3rd and long, the Miners went to the air and the Chargers defense made them regret that decision when senior defensive back Bradly Miller picked off the errant pass at the LVC 45-yard line and returned the pick-off to the Miner 32-yard line.
Setting up in LVC territory, the Chargers needed only 4 plays to reach the endzone, scoring on a 9-yard run by junior halfback Nick Johnson. The 2-point conversion was successful on a run by sophomore halfback Isaiah Knotts, putting the Chargers quickly out in front 8-0, with only about 3 minutes gone in the game.
The Charger defense would force a punt on the next Miner possession and would set up offensively at their own 39-yard line. The Illini West offense would take only 5 plays to cover the 60 yards, finishing up with a 17-yard touchdown dash by senior tailback Ian Bentzinger. Knotts again added the 2-point conversion for a 16-0 first quarter advantage.
Things would quickly get worse from there for the Miners. After receiving the ensuing Charger kick-off, they would attempt to go to the air again and would see that pass intercepted by Charger junior defensive back Tre Neiderman. Neiderman would return that pick to the Miner 18-yard line, again setting up the Illini West offense deep in LVC territory.
The Charger offense would not waste the opportunity and used only 3 plays to find the endzone. This time it would be Johnson again with the honors, as he raced in from 7-yards out. Knotts would post the successful conversion run again to push the Charger lead to 24-0 with 10:10 still to go in the 1st half.
After another deep kick-off by senior Jorge Espinoza and great coverage by the Charger kick-off unit, the Illini West defense would quickly force another Minor punt. This time Charger senior return man Lucas Finch would field the punt, break an initial Minor tackle attempt, and then return the ball 21 yards out to the IW 46-yard line. Four plays later, Knotts would again find paydirt, with an 8-yard TD run. The Charger advantage now swelled to 30-0 with 8:29 left in the half.
Another 3-and-out Charger defensive stand, and good punt return by Johnson, set the IW offense up again deep in Minor territory. Three plays later, Charger senior halfback Jorge Espinoza would find the endzone again for IW, with a 10-yard run. Knott would continue his success on the conversion attempts, as he posted his 4th successful attempt on a nice run, giving IW a 38-0 lead.
Following the Illini West kick-off, the Chargers would get the ball back two plays later, when senior defensive back Bradly Miller picked-off his second interception of the first half. The Chargers would score on the very next play when Bentzinger raced down the left sideline for 36 yards and the touchdown. Junior quarterback Max Kinnamon added the successful conversion run this time and Illini West now led 46-0.
The 2nd half was played with the mandatory running clock after a 40-point lead is attained and gave the Chargers an opportunity to play their reserves and underclassmen in an attempt to give some of them their first varsity experience. This group did a good job playing hard and running the Charger offensive and defensive systems under varsity-level pressure.
The yardage totals don’t really reflect the dominance of the Illini West offensive and defensive units as the Chargers played on a short field for most of the night. The Chargers only ran 26 total plays for 197 total yards, with 18 of those plays and 180 of those yards coming before halftime. The Chargers rushed for 158 yards on 23 attempts and passed for 37 yards on two completions on four attempts.
Bentzinger was the Chargers lead man on the ground with 8 carries for 87 yards. Both Johnson and Espinoza picked up 24 yards, while Knotts tacked on 8 yards (plus 4 successful conversion runs). Evan Sanderson had 2 carries for 5 yards, Ethan Carlisle had 1 attempt for 5 yards, Reed Schaefer had 4 carries for 2 yards, and Ethan Fuhrman had a single carry for 1 yard,
Max Kinnamon attempted 3 passes and completed two for 37 yards. Sophomore Ethan Carlise posted a single incompletion in his first varsity stint at quarterback; however, it must be noted that he had two perfect strikes on long completions that were negated by penalties.
The Charger offensive line continued its development into a cohesive and often dominating unit. Senior center Nick Huls, senior right guard Thomas Chandler, junior left guard Shawn Watkins, junior right tackle Johnny Ravenscraft, sophomore left tackle Izik Jones, senior tight end Lucas Finch, and junior tight end Stephen Sparks have gotten better each week and hopefully can continue to do so.
The Charger defense could very well have pitched a 2nd consecutive shutout if that had been a priority in the game’s second half. The defense produced 3 turnovers and multiple tackles for loss in a dominant first half performance.
The Charger tackle chart reflected that dominance as a number of guys were able to get involved. The leader on the chart was senior defensive back Bradly Miller, who finished with 8 total tackles (solo tackles plus assisted tackles). This was part of a huge defensive effort for Miller, who also intercepted two passes, all in just one half of play.
Senior linebacker Shawn Watkins also garnered 7 total tackles, including 2 tackles for loss, while junior outside linebacker Brady Blanton notched 5 total tackles, including 1 for loss. Junior outside linebacker Stephen Sparks, senior defensive back Lucas Finch, junior defensive back Nick Johnson, and junior defensive end Roan Jackson all totaled 4 tackle involvements. Jackson and Johnson also had tackles for loss included in their total.
Others on the tackle chart included sophomore defensive end Izik Jones (3 total tackles), senior defensive tackle Nick Huls (2 tackles, including 1 for loss), and junior defensive back Khile Stronger (2 tackles). Tre Neiderman, Ian Bentzinger, Thomas Chandler, Ethan Carlisle, Jorge Espinoza, Isaiah Geissler, and Evan Sanderson all were credited with one tackle.
The Chargers will return to action this Friday night when they travel to Knoxville to play the host Blue Bullets. The Blue Bullets are undefeated at 5-0 and averaging over 40 points per game offensively, while giving up about 5 per game defensively. This will be a tremendous test for an improving Illini West squad and a great gauge for how far they have come. The game will kick-off at 7pm.