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Coach
Mark Howard said of the 2-1 setback, "We played hard, and I was
extremely proud of the kids. We had just 17 players and two of
those were injured, so we were really short-handed. It has been
a real frustrating season with all that has gone on, but these kids
battled and never gave up."
Steve
Gorton assisted John Lusicic with a first-half goal with 14 minutes
gone to give the Lynx a lead, but that was the final scoring for
Lincoln College. Gorton set a new school record on the
goal, with his 21st assist of the season.
Lewis
& Clark tied the score with 10 minutes left in the first half
and scored the winning goal 15 minutes into the second half.
The
Lynx were forced to forfeit the seven games when it was determined
that a player transferring to Lincoln College did not have enough
credits to be eligible.
[Bill
Martinie,
Lincoln College sports information director]
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On
Saturday afternoon the Illinois Fighting Illini lived out all of
Cinderella’s emotions and then some on their way to an improbable
42-35 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers. The trip to the royal
palace all started out quite innocently. The Badgers won the toss
and deferred. Therefore Illinois marched right down the field. After
former CS8 player Peter Chritofilakos’ 32-yard field goal,
Illinois led 3-0. At that point, the whole royal story was looking
pretty good. However, Bucky Badger took issue with it, Wisconsin
quarterback Brooks Bolinger marched his troops on a long drive, and
it was 3-7. And as easy as the Badgers made their drive appear, it
looked like the Illini were staying home from the dance with ol’
Cinderella herself.
But
then Illinois came alive. Touchdowns by Aaron Moorehead and Rocky
Harvey around a record five field goals by two different kickers
were making the slipper appear like it would fit. After long-kicker
John Gockman booted a 43-yard field goal with not much time elapsed
in the third quarter, the Illini had taken a 25-7 lead. However, the
witching hour was looming on the horizon, unbenounced to a capacity
crowd of 70,094, who were ecstatic about the possibility of not only
beating Wisconsin for the first time in a decade but perhaps
disposing of them along with the wicked stepfamily!
Wisconsin
second-string QB Jim Sorgi replaced starter Bolinger, who left the
game with an announced groin injury. Sorgi almost pulled off yet
another amazing Badger comeback as he tried to rewrite the famous
fairy tale. Sorgi directed a scoring drive that ended on a two-yard
scamper by splendid scat back Anthony Davis. I, along with the rest
of the royal kingdom, saw more of that guy than I cared to. Davis
finished the day by carrying the ball 24 times and gaining 116 yards
and two touchdowns. If I were a friend of Bucky’s, I’d tell him
to give that ball to Davis a lot more! Then Sorgi found All-World
receiver Lee Evans sandwiched around yet another Illini field goal,
and that made the score 28-21. The royal clock was ticking toward
the impending doom.
Next,
Illini QB Kurt Kittner fired an uncharacteristic INT, and Davis took
it to the house on a 17-yard sprint to tie the game at 28. The big
grandfather clock began to chime. When Christian Morton somehow
fumbled the kickoff seconds later, Cinderella and the Illini
appeared headed for the house before the jig was up. Sorgi connected
with Evans once again, and the carriage and the Illini turned into a
pumpkin at around the same time that Wisconsin was enjoying a 35-28
lead. It doesn’t hurt when you score 21 points within the span of
less than 90 seconds when you’re on the road.
As
quick as lightning can strike I immediately felt what it must be
like to be a Cubs fan when things go awry (I STILL think the Cubs
were the best team in the division this year, but I’m only a
semiprofessional sports writer)! I guess you could say that I was in
disbelief. No, I think stunned may be more like it. No, I was
actually mad … or rather angry. Forget the fact that Illinois has
not had a home sellout win since 1991. Or just forget that the
Illini haven’t beaten a Big Ten team with a winning record at home
since 1991 either — only a span of 20 games!
Unlike
reactions to Cinderella’s predicament, I didn’t feel sorry for
the Illini. I felt that they had inflicted their own pain.
Apparently they didn’t feel sorry for themselves either. Unlike
past seasons when we would fold up like a cheap department store
tent, this team did something I’ve been waiting to see from an
Illinois team for years. They drew a line in the dirt and made a
stand and a statement. I’m not sure how that fits into the famed
fairy tale, but I’m sure there’s some way to twist the story out
of context to make it fit here. And even though I was so miserable I
was packing up to leave, Illinois dug deep into its playbook and
found a 50-yard kickoff reverse somewhere near the back cover. It
may have been the same route that Cinderella used to get home. By
the way, that is a little-known fact submitted here only for you
loyal LDN readers!
[to top of second column in
this article]
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Illinois
did complete the drive when Kittner hooked up with Brian Hodges, and
the Illini were helping the prince fit the glass slipper as they
were back in business at 35-all. The Illini defense, which for the
most part played pretty well on the day, was especially good in the
fourth quarter, when they had to be. Putting some unrelenting
pressure on Sorgi, they held the Badgers, but the Illini had already
proven that this was a different team and a different year. They
knew that they were closing in on the right house and the right
person to make the slipper fit. And they simply went back to work.
And
if you ever want to watch a sensational catch, grab the highlight
reel of the pass Kittner threw to "the Franchise," Brandon
Lloyd. Kittner said later that he thought Lloyd jumped approximately
10 feet in the air to haul that pass down. But isn’t that what
fairy tales are fashioned from? Whatever it was, it was incredible.
I’m still asking, "Did his foot REALLY come down
inbounds?" And I was sitting in that end zone along with the
unflappable LDN cameraman Tom Seggelke.
By
now the prince had recognized Cinderella, but there was still that
bit of making sure that the slipper fit. So after the Illinois
defense proved themselves again to an appreciative throng by holding
the Badgers, the evil step-cheesers weren’t ready to ride off into
the sunset just yet. In fact, the Wisconsin punter pinned the Illini
with their backs against the wall, booming a punt into the wind that
stopped at the Illinois 7-yard line. There were still a few minutes
left, and the Badgers had a full complement of timeouts remaining,
hoping to prove that good endings only show up in real fairy tales.
The
Illini decided that, unlike Cinderella, they would enjoy every last
minute and second in making the slipper fit. Their resolve was so
potent that they unleashed a drive reminiscent of the Mike White and
John Mackovich days. And as the Badgers ate up their timeouts, the
Illini were turning crucial third-down plays into first downs.
Kittner displayed his toughness by scrambling for one.
But
the one that will always stay with me was the pass that he appeared
to have overthrown to Lloyd. All Lloyd did was to lay out,
completely sprawled, reach out beyond human reach and snag the
misguided aerial with one of the most sensational receptions that
this sophomoric reporter has ever had the pleasure to witness. As a
matter of fact, it’s why I’ve always enjoyed going to the games
in person, just like when my dad took me to games when I was a
little kid. While there’s a part of me that doesn’t care whether
my son enjoys it like I do (actually I’m hoping that he likes math
and sciences and hopes to become an archaeologist or an astronaut),
how could you not want your son to see a game like this one?
Illinois
finally showed the Wisconsin sidelines that the glass shoe did
indeed fit, and they didn’t even have to run a final play. They
walked into the sunset and into the arms of a delirious crowd with a
hard-fought 42-35 victory that I will admit seemed as impossible to
me as a plain orange and blue pumpkin becoming a golden carriage.
Impossible? That’s one of the reasons I like fairy tales so much.
[Jeff
Mayfield]
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