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Illini West took to the road last Friday night seeking a victory that would clinch a spot in the 2025 IHSA football play-offs.
The Chargers achieved that goal by beating the Elmwood-Brimfield Trojans on their home turf 34-24 in posting their play-off eligible 5th win of the season.
The game was a back-and-forth affair early on as the two teams traded first half scores. After stopping the Trojans first drive, the Chargers offense took over at midfield.
Relying exclusively on the run game, the Chargers marched 50 yards on 10 plays, culminating in a 3-yard touchdown run by senior fullback Izik Jones. Senior halfback Isaiah Knotts added a successful conversion run to give IW an early 8-0 lead.
The Trojans responded immediately with a 66-yard, 8 play scoring drive of their own to tie the game at 8-all with 2:12 to go in the first quarter.
The Chargers mounted a 9 play, 50-yard drive to respond, but came up short on a 4 and 3 at the Trojan 25-yard line to turn the ball back to the hosts.
However, the Charger defense would respond by forcing a Trojan fumble on the very next play. Charger senior defensive end Chase Yelton came up with the recovery on the play to set the Charger offense up at the Trojans 28-yard line.
On the next play, Charger sophomore QB Liam Murphy would hit classmate Caleb Schreacke on a 28-yard scoring toss to allow IW to retake the lead.
He conversion run failed, but the Chargers now led 14-8 with 10:17 left in the 2nd quarter.
The Trojans responded with a 13-play, 65-yard scoring drive to tie the score at 14-all. A successful conversion run would give the home team a 16-14 lead with 5:08 left in the 2nd quarter.
The Chargers were undaunted and responded with a 75-yard scoring drive of their own.
Staying on the ground exclusively, the Charger offensive line repeatedly knocked the Trojan defense off the ball to create running room for the IW running backs.
Knotts capped this pivotal drive with a 7-yard run to give the Chargers a 20-16 lead with only 39 seconds left in the 1st half.
The Trojans would mount a drive in the waning seconds, but Charger junior defensive back Keagan Walker would halt the drive with a leaping interception at the Charger 20-yard line.
The pick would send IW into the break still holding the 4-point advantage. The drive finished with Izik Jones getting the final 5 yards to the endzone.
Knotts added a successful conversion run to push the IW lead to 28-16 with 3:02 left in the 3rd quarter.
Unfortunately, the Trojans responded with a 71-yard scoring run on the first play after the Charger kick-off.
The touchdown and a successful Trojan conversion run sliced the Charger advantage to 28-24 to set up a decisive 4th quarter.
The Chargers responded with a drive that carried their play-off hopes with them.
Taking over at their own 16-yard line, the Chargers would march 84 yards in 12 plays, taking almost 9 minutes off the clock.
Knotts would race the final 35 yards into the endzone for the touchdown and a 34-24 Illini West lead with 6 minutes left in the game.
With the 10 point advantage, the Charger defense was able to stand up against a late Trojan offensive attack to secure the play-off clinching victory and set up a Charger celebration as the final horn went off.
The Charger offense would amass 438 yards in their best performance of the season.
This total included 410 yards rushing on 66 total attempts. Knotts carried 34 times for 274 yards to lead the way, and Jones added another 114 yards on 26 carries.
Sophomore Austin Cramer, sophomore Liam Murphy and senior Reed Schaefer split the other 6 carries for 22 yards.
The Charger offensive line stood tall in this game creating consistent running room against a Trojan defense stacked to stop the run.
Center Nelson Anderson; guards Chase Yelton, Deacon Zaehringer and Nathan Chandler; tackles Isaiah Geissler and Braxton Vass; tight ends Caleb Schreacke and Tanner Stonger all did an outstanding job giving the Charger backs enough running room to help bring home the victory and a playoff berth.
The Charger defense also stood tall in getting key stops against a very tough Trojan running attack. The defensive line was forced to have to try and create piles and give the Charger linebackers an opportunity to make tackles.
The tackle chart showed their success in doing this as all 3 starting LB’s had 6 tackles each. Knotts, Jackson Steinkamp and Austin Cramer were kept free enough to run and make stops.
Defensive back Myles Neff was involved in 4 tackles, while Caleb Schreacke, Tanner Stonger and Chase Yelton totaled 3 stops each.
Also on the tackle chart were Nathan Chander (2), Keagan Walker (2), Evan Worley (2), Case Heath (2), Mason Renteria (1), Reed Schaefer (1), Josiah Sturlic (1), Deacon Zaehringer (1), Mason Williams (1), Nelson Anderson (1) and Malachi Miller (1).
The Chargers will now enter the play-offs at 5-4 overall and seeded #16 in their bracket.
Their unenviable draw is 9-0 Rockridge, who is seeded #1.
This game will be played at Taylor Ridge this Saturday afternoon with the opening kick-off slated for 1:00pm.