The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
For the second week in a row the Illini West Chargers football team let a first half lead slip away in a disappointing loss to the host Knoxville Blue Bullets.
The Chargers played an inspired first half in taking a 22-8 lead after the game’s first 24 minutes.
Unfortunately, the Blue Bullets dominated the game’s final 24 minutes in posting the 10-point win.
The Chargers completed a big half by scoring on the final play of the first half to take a 22-8 lead into the halftime break.
The Charger rushing attack produced 190 yards on 38 carries in the first half, but only 21 yards on 12 carries in the second half, as the Blue bullets played keep-away with their ball control offense during the final 24 minutes.
The Charger touchdowns came on a pair of short runs by senior fullback Izik Jones and a 4-yard burst by senior teammate Isaiah Knotts.
Jones added a successful conversion after the first TD, while sophomore Austin Cramer added the final 2 points with a successful conversion after Knotts’ TD.
The Charger defense spent a large portion of the second half on the field trying to slow the Blue Bullet rushing attack, with very limited success. Knotts finished with 10 tackles to pace the Chargers.
Juniors Bryson Cruz and Myles Neff finished with 5 tackles each, while senior Chase Yelton posed 4 total stops.
Juniors Jaxson Steinkamp and Keagan Walker had 3 total tackles each, as did sophomores Caleb Schreake, Kinnick Bliss and Austin Cramer.
Senior Reed Schaefer, sophomore Braxton Vass and sophomore Nathan Chandler each had 2 tackles, while juniors Nelson Anderson, junior Josiah Sturlic, sophomore Liam Murphy and senior Isaiah Gessler finished with one tackle apiece.
The Chargers produced 241 yards of total offense in this contest, with 211 coming on the ground and 30 through the air. Jones picked up 73 yards rushing on 19 carries, while Knotts added 72 yards on 15 attempts.
Chipping in on the ground were sophomores Austin Cramer with 42 yards, Liam Murphy with 13 yards, and Kinnick Bliss with 10 yards.
Murphy added 30 yards passing, hitting on 3 of his 4 attempts. Schreacke had 2 catches for 22 yards, while Cramer had a single grab for 8 yards.
The loss drops Illini West to 2-4 overall and makes the final 3 games “must win” situations if the Chargers hope to make the playoffs.
The Chargers will travel to Manlius this Friday night to face 1-5 Bureau Valley.
The Storm has struggled this season, but the Chargers must be ready to give their best effort of the season as they attempt to stop their 4-game losing streak.