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An
interview by Jeff Mayfield
Former Railer leads Illinois College
into playoff contention
Part 1
 [OCT.
26, 2000]
I
have heard it said that you couldn’t learn anything from being
involved in a losing program. That if you play for a team that loses
every game you are probably just wasting your time. John Allison
couldn’t disagree more with that kind of thinking. Playing for a
Railer program that showed little success for all the efforts
expended did not seem to faze Allison all that much. In fact, he
says it made him appreciate the game of football all the more. The
perseverance, the patience and the discipline made him a better
player. And this season he has helped lead the Illinois College
Blueboys to a 6-1 record at posting time. That might not give you
visions of a national championship, but it is on pace to become the
greatest record in IC history. John and I recently met in my office,
while he was on fall break, to discuss the amazing season that he
has helped put together.
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Q.
John, it sounds like you guys are having a pretty exciting year, so
far.
A.
Yah, it’s a first for me. It’s been really great, though. I’ve
never actually been on a team that was in playoff contention. We’re
battling St. Norbert College for first place in the conference. It
could all come down to the final game of the season.
[#60 John Allison opens the
hole for #26 Mark Dockterman]
Q.
Last winter you told me that you would have a decent team this year,
but you’re a lot better than just decent. How have you guys put
together such a good season?
A.
Last year our offense put up over 2,000 yards passing, and we had a
running back, Patrick Bowman, that put up another 1,000 yards
rushing. Our offense hasn’t changed all that much. We’re still
putting up a lot of points on the scoreboard. The defense is where
we’ve really turned it around. We’ve got a new defensive tackle
by the name of Bobby Brents. He is making about 15 tackles a game.
We’ve also got a new middle linebacker. That’s been the big
difference for us. Our pass coverage has improved, and we get good
pressure from our defensive line.
[#60 John Allison stands with #76 Jared McCammon, #17
Patrick Bowman, and #93 Tim Wagenbach]
Q.
So, you attribute most of your success to a rejuvenated defense?
A.
Yes. It seems like every time that we need a really big stop, we get
one! They are definitely a ‘bend but don’t break’ defense.
Even though they are young, when we need a stop, they usually come
up with one.
[John Allison lines up in his slot as left guard]
Q.
Tell us how the season has transpired so far.
A.
Our summer program was not quite as up-tempo as it probably should
have been. We played Blackburn College in our first game. We won
44-7, but I did not feel like we played all that well. Our next game
was our first conference game against Lawrence. We did not play well
offensively at all in that game. I attribute that mostly to the way
we practiced. We did not hit all that much in practice that week,
and it showed during the game. The third game of the season is where
it all started to come together for us. We took a 7-24 deficit into
the locker room at halftime. When we came back for the second half,
we went into our two-minute offense for the rest of the game. We
made an amazing comeback and went on to win 43-34. That was one of
the most exciting comebacks that I have ever been a part of! It just
seemed like every time we got the ball that we would score. It was
absolutely incredible!
[to
top of second column in this article]
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The
next week was the tough one. Monmouth has struggled a little this
year. However, whenever we play them, no matter how good we are
playing, they always seem to bring their A game against us every
single time! And this year’s contest was no exception. It was a
really tough loss for us. They’re kind of our conference rival.
Since we’re kind of a young club, it was a wake-up call for us. It
made us realize that we’re not unbeatable. And that’s when we
got our biggest win of the year. That next week we played the team
that usually finishes first or second in the conference: Grinnell.
We beat them 34-31 at our place, which made us 4-1. The very next
week we beat Beloit at home by a touchdown.
[John Allison displays his pass-blocking skills as he
protects quarterback Derek Leonard]
Q.
Who’s left on the schedule, and what will you have to do to make
the playoffs?
A.
We will play Ripon at home, and they’re usually a pretty tough
team. They consistently put up over 500 yards of offense. They are
one of the three teams that everybody worries about, along with
Grinnell and St. Norbert. They are very beatable, because we can put
up that much offense against them as well. It could be a shootout. I
think our defense has improved a little bit, so that will help a
lot. Our last two games are on the road. We play Carroll, and then
we’ll travel to Green Bay for probably the most important game of
the year, versus St. Norbert. The winner of that game will advance
to the NCAA Division 3 playoffs. That game will be in the middle of
November, so it could be a cold one. It should really be exciting.
St. Norbert is currently ranked No. 24 in the country. Last year we
played them about as tough as anybody in our conference. Hopefully
this year we will be able to beat them and advance. It looks like we
would then play Millikin in the first round of the postseason.
(To
be continued)
[Jeff
Mayfield]
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