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[October 14, 2023]
Normal – There were no players named Jason Voorhees listed on
the U-High Pioneer football team’s roster, but even without the
character from the horror movie franchise, Friday the 13th must have
felt like a nightmare on Main Street for the Railer football team.
as U-High slashed through the Railer defense to rack up an
unofficial total of 319 yards en route to a 49-28 defeat of Lincoln.
Plenty was at stake in the game for both teams as they each entered
the contest with 5-2 overall records and eligible for the IHSA
postseason playoffs. The team that earned its sixth win would be
guaranteed a spot in the playoffs.
Initially, it appeared it would be Lincoln that would control the
game, as the Railers jumped out to a 14-0 lead on first quarter
touchdown runs of 4 and 63 yards by Ki’on Carson.
Ki'on Carson
The Pioneers found their footing near the end of the first quarter,
as U-High scored on a 52-yard run, then again on a 2-yard run early
in the second quarter to knot the score at 14-14. Lincoln appeared
poised to retake the momentum in the game as Railer quarterback
Darren Stevens scored on a 1-yard run to give LCHS a 21-14
advantage.
“We started out really hot,” said LCHS coach Matt Silkowski. “We
played good on both sides of the ball to start out, but once they
got their momentum, we would rally back and get back into it. We
made a couple of really big mistakes there late in the first half
and, unfortunately, just never really recovered from that.”
Just as quickly as it felt the momentum was moving over to Lincoln’s
side, it moved just as quickly back to the Pioneers. Following the
Railers’ kickoff to the Pioneers, U-High needed one play to tie the
score, as the Lincoln defense missed covering Pioneer receiver Cade
Cunningham. Cunningham got behind Lincoln’s secondary, caught the
ball near midfield and scampered to the end zone untouched to even
the score at 21-21 with 1:11 remaining in the second quarter.
On the second play after receiving the kickoff, Lincoln ran a pass
play, but Stevens was chased from the pocket by U-High defensive
lineman Cole Matejka. With Matejka closing in, the Railer
quarterback attempted to throw the ball downfield to a receiver, but
the Pioneer lineman tipped the ball to redirect it as Stevens
released it. U-High’s Drew Rader intercepted the errant pass with 58
seconds remaining in the first half.
“We didn’t protect [the quarterback] very well,” Silkowski said.
“Their guy beat our tackle and hit Darren from behind.”
Two plays later, the Pioneers scored on a 24-yard pass play to take
a 28-21 advantage before the intermission.
Silkowski said Lincoln opted to try to move the ball before the end
of the quarter rather than just run the clock out based on the
circumstances to start the second half.
“We just wanted to see what we could get,” he said. “They were
getting the ball at the half, so we were trying to get something
going and felt like we could get our athletes room and space to do
something.
“The guy was open; Darren was throwing it to an open receiver. We
didn’t protect it well enough.”
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Following halftime, U-High received the kickoff and appeared on its
way to a 3-and-out first series. However, on fourth down, the
Pioneers used some trickery in initially lining Martin Donahue up at
tight end. Donahue then moved laterally to a position behind the
center just before the ball was snapped. After taking the snap, he
ran 52 yards for a Pioneer touchdown to extend the lead to 35-21.
Lincoln answered back later in the quarter as Stevens hit the other
half of the C&C Touchdown Factory, Kani Carson, on an 85-yard
touchdown pass play. However, the Railer offense could not find the
end zone after that while U-High added a pair of touchdowns in the
final stanza for a 49-28 win.
Kani Carson
Unofficial statistics show U-High outgained Lincoln in offensive
yardage 488-417. The Railers compiled more passing yards than the
Pioneers (282-169), but U-High outgained Lincoln 319-135 in rushing
yardage.
Darren Stevens
Stevens was 12 for 26 with 282 yards passing, including one
touchdown and an interception.
Paytan Bunner had a strong game at fullback for the Railers and led
Lincoln with 88 yards rushing.
“He ran the ball really hard,” Silkowski said. “He was big in the
game plan this week. We felt like he could run inside pretty
effectively; at times, he was able to do that tonight.”
Ki’on Carson added 62 yards rushing and two touchdowns for Lincoln.
In the category of receiving, Kani Carson tallied 108 yards and one
touchdown. Gabe Smith compiled 71 yards, Ki’on Carson added 45 yards
and Colbie Glenn racked up 41 yards.
Defensively, Glenn led the Railers with eight tackles. Ki’on Carson
added six tackles, including two sacks. Frank Sanders compiled six
tackles, and Tate Johnston tallied four tackles and an interception.
Lincoln travels to Chatham for its final game of the regular season
to face Glenwood on October 20 in a 7 PM game. Silkowski said the
team will continue to work to improve as the season winds down and a
potential playoff game looms the following week.
“We’ve got to get better ourselves,” Silkowski said. “We’ve got to
find a way to get tougher at the point of attack in the run game,
because Chatham [Glenwood] is going to look to run it down at us.
That’s kind of what they do, so we’ve got to find an answer for
that.”
[Loyd Kirby]
Box Score
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