This story was published in The
Pantagraph -
www.pantagraph.com
By Randy Kindred
rkindred@pantagraph.com
NORMAL
-- How hot was Hud Venerable? He burned a timeout, and
the sparks flew into the Normal Community High School
huddle.
Trailing 7-6, Venerable spent an entire third-quarter
timeout Saturday arguing a pass interference call, which
came on fourth-and-12 and gave Bloomington a first down
at the NCHS 13-yard line.
"I needed to get a little heat off, needed to vent a
little," he said.
When play resumed, NCHS linebacker Sam Smith made a
diving interception at the 5. The Ironmen then marched
the football 95 yards in 10 plays for the go-ahead
touchdown, and went on to a 19-7 victory over visiting
BHS in a second-round Class 6A playoff game.
The win in the 100th meeting between the schools
advanced second-seeded NCHS (10-1) to next week's
quarterfinal at
Mount Vernon.
Third-seeded BHS ended 9-2 with its second loss to the
Ironmen this season, and first in four playoff games
against NCHS.
"Coach got us up when he came out on the field. That
pumped us," Smith said. "It (the pass) was a tight end
dump and we'd been practicing for it all week. I just
saw it and I made the play, luckily."
"He made a good play," BHS quarterback Brent Holtz said.
"I should have thrown it over him though for our tight
end to go up and get it. I just had a bad throw, and the
guy was able to capitalize on it."
Fullback Shannon Cobb capped the ensuing long drive with
a 21-yard TD run. The pass for the two-point conversion
failed, leaving the Ironmen ahead 12-7 with
1:42 left in the third quarter.
"That play (the interception), and the ability of their
quarterback (Craig Lutes) to scramble and get a big
first down, that swings momentum," BHS coach Rigo
Schmelzer said.
"Then their line starts to get more active and involved.
At that point, our defensive line is either playing too
high, or they're just getting tired and worn down."
The lead grew after NCHS sophomore Alex Buck recovered a
fumbled handoff on BHS' next play, setting up a 51-yard,
10-play drive. Cobb covered the final eight yards, and
Nate Rapp's extra-point kick made it 19-7 with 8:38 to
go.
The Raiders could not threaten after that. The Ironmen
limited BHS to 64 second-half yards, including 14 on
seven carries by star tailback Valshun Powe. Powe, who
came in with 1,389 yards and 11.2 per carry, finished
with 90 yards in 23 attempts.
Sophomore linebacker Austin Kull had 13 tackles, with
Smith and Jake Detmers adding 12 each.
"He's a great running back. But we're always pretty good
about getting a lot of guys to the ball," Buck said. "We
knew we had to gang tackle."
Perhaps the game's biggest tackle came on the final play
of the first half. Leading 7-6, Holtz completed a pass
to Dustin Kelly, who nearly reached the end zone on a
52-yard play. He was dragged down by Buck at the 1.
"I thought I had it over (the goal line)," Kelly said.
"Even if I didn't, I thought I'd fumbled (into the end
zone). But I think the ref made a good call from what he
could see."
"Sam's interception and the tackle right before half
were two turning points," Venerable said. "Those were
big plays because they're in the red zone and we turned
them away."
BHS took its 7-6 lead late in the second quarter on a
3-yard run by Powe, capping a 10-play drive, and Eren
Eti's extra point.
The Ironmen scored first when Cobb's 1-yard run ended an
11-play, 69-yard drive in the first quarter. Rapp's
extra-point kick was wide.
NCHS gained 164 of its 236 yards rushing in the second
half behind linemen Darren Dierkes, Mike Cross, Clifford
Ford, Nick Price, Tyson Pittman, Tyler Sadlo and tight
end Jay Rodriguez.
Cobb finished with 104 yards on 14 carries, and
sophomore tailback Austin Davis had 85 yards in 21
attempts.
"It all starts at the line of scrimmage," Cobb said.
"Then the running backs can do their job."
"They ran hard, they ran well and they made their key
blocks," Holtz said. "They just put it to us."
NCHS had 283 yards of offense to 235 for BHS. The
Raiders had five first downs in the second half and none
in the fourth quarter.
"We missed some of our blocking assignments, but a lot
of that is because of the quality of team we were
facing," Schmelzer said. "It hurts to lose to your rival
twice, but I think today they showed themselves to be
the better club."
This story was
published in The Pantagraph -
www.pantagraph.com
