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Faced with the looming possibility of an impending overtime, the Illini West Chargers put the ball and their hopes into the hands of their most dependable offensive weapon with only 31 seconds left on the game clock. Charger senior Isaiah Knotts did not disappoint as he sent the Charger faithful into a frenzy with an electrifying 75-yard touchdown dash up the IW sideline to give the Chargers the win.
Knotts’ heroics lifted the Chargers to a critical road victory at Bureau Valley last Friday night and helped IW snap a disheartening 4-game losing streak. The Chargers had led for most of the game, only to see the host Storm tie the score with 54 seconds left at 20 – 20.
After forcing a Storm punt on the host’s first possession, The Chargers took over at their own 36-yard line. Knotts capped a 7-play scoring drive with a 44-yard TB burst right up the middle behind good blocks from senior center Nelson Anderson, junior guard Deacon Zaehringer and senior tackle Isaiah Geissler.
Sophomore quarterback Liam Murphy raced around the left end to tack on a successful 2-point conversion run to give the Chargers an early 8 – 0 lead at the 7:42 mark of the first quarter.
The Chargers defense forced a turnover on the next Storm possession when Knotts recovered a Storm fumble near midfield, but the Charger offense could not take advantage as the teams exchanged possessions early.
The Storm got their offense going early in the 2nd period as they put together a 14-play scoring drive to reach the endzone with 8:00 left in the half. The BV offense was unable to convert the conversion to leave the hosts trailing 8 – 6.
The Chargers answered with an 18-play, 68-yard drive of their own. The first 17 plays were all runs, but the Chargers finally had to go to the air to score.
Sophomore quarterback Liam Murphy hit classmate Caleb Schreacke for a 5-yard scoring toss. The conversion run failed but the Chargers led 14 – 6 to end the first half.
The Chargers received the 2nd half kick-off and drove down to the Storm 35-yard line before turning the ball back to the hosts on downs.
The Storm offense responded with an 18-play drive to march the 65 yards for a game tying score, knotting the score at 14-all with 11:30 left on the 4th quarter clock.
The Chargers offense would respond with a 58-yard scoring drive of their own after the ensuing BV kickoff.
The big play on the drive was a 40-yard keeper by sophomore QB Liam Murphy to get the ball down to the BV 6-yard line. Two Knotts runs got the ball into the endzone from there, giving IW the lead at 20-14 with 8:40 left on the game clock.
Bureau Valley did not quit, however, and the Storm responded with another long drive to tie the score back up at 20 – all with only 54 seconds left on the clock. The conversion run failed leaving the teams tied at 20 and the Storm kicked off to set up Knotts’ late game heroics.
The Charger’s offense produced 306 yards in the game with 301 coming on the ground. Knotts led the way with 173 yards gained on 16 total carries. Senior fullback Izik Jones added 61 yards on 15 tough carries.
Also chipping in on the ground attack was quarterback Murphy with 2 carries for 45 yards, sophomore halfback Austen Cramer with 25 yards on 4 carries and Caleb Schreacke with a single carry for 1 yard.
Murphy had the 1 touchdown connection to Schreacke for 5 yards as the only passing yardage on the night for the Chargers.
Defensively, the Chargers were led by juniors Bryson Cruz and Keagan Walker with 7 tackles each. Seniors Chase Yelton, Reed Schaefer and Knotts had 6 tackles each. Sophomore Austen Cramer also had 6 tackles plus an interception.
Junior defensive tackles Nelson Anderson and Deacon Zaehringer totaled 5 tackles apiece, while classmates Tanner Stonger and Jaxson Steinkamp had 3 tackles each.
Also on the tackle chart were Myles Neff (2 tackles), Josiah Sturlic (2 tackles), Nathan Chanderl (1 tackle), Evan Wherley (1 tackle), Schreacke (1 tackle) and Jones (1 tackle).
The Charger big road win now improves their record to 3 – 4 overall and gives the Chargers a path to the playoffs if they can win their final two games of the regular season.
That path starts this Friday night at IW’s Fuzz Berges Field when the Chargers will host the United Red Storm. That game is set to kick-off at 7:00pm.