The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The visiting West Hancock Titans came from behind to upset the Illini West Chargers at IW’s Fuzz Berges Field last Friday night by a final score of 18-14.
The Titans scored the only points of the second half with a touchdown midway through the third quarter and made that 4-point advantage stand up by shutting out the Chargers in the game’s final 34 minutes.
Both teams started the game like this contest was going to be a high-scoring, back and forth offensive shootout.
The Titans took the opening kick-off and quickly marched down the field to score the game’s first touchdown and take a 6 -0 advantage with 8:50 left in the first quarter.
The host Chargers answered quickly when IW senior tailback Isaiah Knotts took the pitch around the left side and raced 69 yards for the game-tying score.
The conversion run failed, making the score 6-all at the 7:35 mark of the first quarter.
West Hancock answered with a long return of the ensuing kick-off and took advantage of the great field position to score again at the 4:57 mark of the first period to take a 12-6 lead.
The Chargers would answer again in very quick and explosive fashion, as senior fullback Izik Jones took a simple inside hand-off and burst free to race 65 yards for the second IW score.
Knotts added a successful 2-point conversion run to put IW ahead 14-12 with 2:11 still to go in the first quarter.
After that play the offensive fireworks dried up as the two teams settled into a back and forth for the defensive struggle.
Finally, the Titans got on the board again with a TD midway through the third period to take the 18-14 advantage.
The game did not end without some controversy, however, as an apparent TD pass completion by the Chargers in the game’s waning seconds was nullified by an official’s penalty call.
The Chargers faced an uphill battle in this contest due to several injuries that still lingered from their week four loss to state-ranked Farmington.
Biggest of those was the loss of senior quarterback Ethan Carlisle to a leg injury. His status moving forward is still unknown.
The Chargers relied heavily on their ground attack in this one and it produced a pair of 100-yard rushers.
Knotts finished his night with 179 on 21 carries to lead the Charger ground attack, while Jones added a bruising 138 yards on 15 carries.
Offensive mistakes such as penalties, missed assignments and snap issues plagued the Chargers throughout the contest and must be addressed and fixed if this team is to reach anything near their full offensive potential.
Defensively, the Chargers had some up and down moments but played well enough to give Illini West a chance to win.
Plagued by bad field position throughout much of the contest, they were still able to keep the game close.
Tackle leaders for the Chargers were Bryson Cruz with 8 total tackles: Knotts, Kinnick Bliss and Myles Neff with 6 total stops each.
Keagan Walker had 4 total tackles, as did Reed Schaefer. Next with 3 tackles each were Caleb Schreacke, Jaxson Steinkamp, Josiah Sturlic, Chase Yelton and Izik Jones. Steinkamp also added an interception to the defensive effort.
Chipping in with one tackle each were Isaiah Geissler, Nathan Chandler, Malachi Miller and Nelson Anderson.
Unfortunately, this marks the third loss in a row for the Chargers after an exciting 2-0 start.
Now at 2-3 and entering a week six road match-up with the Knoxville Blue Bullets, who stand at 3-2 overall, the Chargers must put forth a winning effort to get their season back on track.
Kick-off is slated for 7:00 p.m. this Friday night in Knoxville.