Peoria Notre Dame (8-3) never trailed Saturday night and ran all over the Macomb Bombers (9-2) 41-21 in the second round of the IHSA Class 4A playoffs at historic Peoria Stadium. Irish junior running back Aaron Sanders led ND with 121 yards, on 11 carries and sophomore Andy Shadid rushed for three touchdowns. Quarterback Dom Comfort had a TD and 51 of the teams 260 yards on the ground. Macomb was led by senior running back Jarod Rockhold with 163 yards rushing and a 87 yard run for a touchdown. The Irish advance to the third round of the playoffs and square-off against top ranked Rochester (10-1) November 10th at home.
-Bob
The top seeded Elmwood/Brimfield Trojans ran all over the Champaign St. Thomas More Sabers 34-14 Saturday in the first round of the IHSA Class 3A football playoffs. Controlling the line of scrimmage, the Trojans (10-0) rushed for 525 yards while stopping the Sabers (5-5) with a stout defense. Senior running backs Jason Harkness (255 yards on 23 carries) and Brady Westart (216 yards on 30 carries) combined for 525 yards of offense and 26 first downs. Junior running back Sonny Visione added 41 yards on the ground. STM junior quarterback Storm Joop finished with 234 yards on 16-for-34 passing. With the victory Elmwood/Brimfield advances to the second round next Saturday, traveling to play the Winnebago Indians (8-2).
-Bob
The Elmwood/Brimfield Trojans (6-0, 4-0) clinched at least a share of the Prairieland Blue Division football conference and secured another IHSA Class 3A playoff berth with a 20-7 victory over Farmington (5-1, 3-1) Friday night. Brady Westart rushed for 135 yards in the game, scoring all three of his teams touchdowns. Jason Harkness had 113 yards rushing in the game for the Trojans. Farmington’s only score of the game came on the second half kick-off for a touchdown by junior Noah Welker for 82 yards.
-Bob
Western Illinois University dropped its Missouri Valley Football Conference opener to No. 15th-ranked Illinois State (4-0) 23-3 at Hanson Field. The Fighting Leathernecks evened there record on the season at 2-2. Led by senior running back Darrelynn Dunn who scored two touchdowns for the Redbirds on 29 carries for 123 yards, and senior quarterback Matt Brown was 16-26 passing with one touchdown to junior Jordan Neukirch. Freshman linebacker J.J. Raffelson was the defensive star for WIU with 13 tackles. Western launched its best drive of the afternoon on its opening possession of the second half. The Leathernecks marched inside the Redbird 5 yard line, but had to settle for Pat Smith’s 21-yard field goal for there only points in the game. Click here for the complete game stats.
-Bob
Eureka College senior quarterback Sam Durley (Roanoke, IL./Roanoke-Benson H.S.) broke an NCAA single-game record with 736 passing yards, one of six school records broken on Saturday, helping the Red Devils come from behind for a 62-55 non-conference victory over Knox College in the inaugural Abraham Lincoln Bowl at the Harley Knosher Bowl in Galesburg, IL. Durley’s effort broke the previous single-game record of 731 yards held by Menlo College quarterback Zamir Amin on Oct. 7, 2000. Durley finished the game 34-for-52 with five touchdown passes, including a pair of strikes to junior wideout Jake Bane in the final two minutes of the game to cap a run of 17 unanswered points by the Red Devils. Durley’s final touchdown pass, a 13-yard toss to Bane with 20 seconds remaining, gave the Red Devils their first lead of the afternoon that eventually held up as the final 62-55 score. In addition to the single-game NCAA record, Durley broke Eureka’s all-time passing yardage, attempts and passing touchdown records on Saturday. The senior now has 6,095 career passing yards, 792 attempts and 48 touchdowns. Each mark bested the previous record held by Durley’s former teammate Nick Lindsey (2006-09). Durley is the first Red Devil in program history to throw for 6,000 yards. Durley’s effort allowed Bane and newcomer Jordan Kindred to compile two of the top receiving performances in program history. Kindred, playing his first organized football game of any kind on Saturday, hauled in 13 balls for 235 yards. The 13 catches were the third-most catches in a game by a Red Devil in program history, while the 235 yards marked the fourth-best performance in school history. Bane made seven catches for 207 yards. The yardage total marked the ninth-highest single-game total in school history. As a team, Eureka rolled up 821 yards of total offense, besting the previous school record of 744 set versus Crown on Nov. 7, 2009. In all, the game featured 1,290 yards of total offense and 60 first downs. Eureka’s 62-point effort was the fifth-highest single-game point total in the 109-season history of the program. Eureka’s victory secured ownership of the Abraham Lincoln Bowl traveling trophy, a bronze bust of a young Abraham Lincoln that will be awarded to the winner of each game in the series. Click to View and Purchase more Game Photo’s.
Click Here for Complete Statistics and Game Box Score.
-Bob
