Coal City’s Asa Cooper carries the ball on a play as Wheaton St. Francis’s Ben Bettag looks for the tackle during Saturday’s Class 4A quarterfinal in Coal City. The Coalers are one of two area teams still in the playoff hunt, as they will host Richmond-Burton in an IHSA Class 4A semifinal, and Milford-Cissna Park will take on Polo in the I8FA state championship.
Coal City’s Asa Cooper carries the ball on a play as Wheaton St. Francis’s Ben Bettag looks for the tackle during Saturday’s Class 4A quarterfinal in Coal City. The Coalers are one of two area teams still in the playoff hunt, as they will host Richmond-Burton in an IHSA Class 4A semifinal, and Milford-Cissna Park will take on Polo in the I8FA state championship.
We knew it was coming eventually, the week when several teams had their postseason momentum halted on the same weekend. That was last weekend, when Central, Wilmington and Bishop McNamara all saw their respective 2019 seasons come to an end on the road.
The Comets hung tough with fellow unbeaten Fieldcrest and trailed by a point at the half, but the Knights’ stingy defense derailed Central’s usually-overwhelming offense with three second-half interceptions and a convincing 37-19 win in Illinois High School Association Class 2A quarterfinal action.
In Byron, the Wildcats fell behind early on a couple big plays from the Tigers, who never let go of the early momentum they gained, blanking the ‘Cats 32-0 on a muddy field in the Class 3A quarters.
Murphysboro scored 14 points before the Irish touched the ball in their Class 4A quarterfinal meeting, and after the Irish erased two two-touchdown leads, a touchdown with 49 seconds left gave the Irish their third last-minute loss of the season, with this one ending their season.
But the area still stands tall with two teams left in the mix. Milford-Cissna Park laid their second beatdown of the year on Flannagan-Cornell-Woodland to advance to their second straight Illinois 8-Man Football Association championship, and Coal City executed its gameplan to perfection with a 25-7 win against St. Francis in the Class 4A quarters.
Shoutout of the week
Two winning teams this week means exactly what you think it does — I’m once again handing out multiple shoutouts.
Penn Stoller has been one of the most dominant athletes in any sport and any class this fall, and he proved it once again Saturday. The Bearcats’ quarterback and middle linebacker ran for six touchdowns and more than 200 yards and also recorded two sacks in Milford-Cissna Park’s 62-12 win.
In Coal City, where an experienced batch of juniors and seniors have handled the headlines for much of the season, it was sophomore defensive back and running back Ashton Harvey who shined bright. The Coalers’ newest weapon scored the team’s first touchdown, a 39-yard untouched run, and also secured a pair of picks to help propel Coal City to its seventh state semifinal in school history.
2019 Coaler Grit Tour
The Coalers have treated their season schedule as a rock tour, embracing the 2019 Coaler Grit Tour as their motto, and wherever they’ve pulled up this year, they certainly have been the headlining show.
To fully embrace the Coalers’ rockstar attitude, let’s examine the team through the squad of a band. Daniel Jezik and his video game-like numbers serves as the front man on guitar and vocals, with supporting vocals from his offensive line and quarterback Payton Hutchings slapping the bass. Since the dominant defensive unit marches to the beat of the same drum, it only makes sense for that hard-nosed group to bang up the percussion.
The Coalers face a familiar foe this weekend in Richmond-Burton, the team that knocked them out in Coal City in last year’s quarterfinal round. This year, the Coalers have a chance to flip the outcome, once again on their home turf, but winning this year doesn’t just mean surviving in the postseason; it means reservations in Dekalb for the Class 4A title game.
#AllGasNoBrakes
Milford-Cissna Park has embraced the hashtag above as its season motto, and it’s easy to see why. Through 11 games, the Bearcats have obliterated anyone and everyone in their path, outscoring their opponents 652-224.
But their biggest test of 2019 will come in this weekend’s I8FA title game against Polo High School. Polo, one of the newcomers to the I8FA this season, also has ridden the wave to an 11-0 season with a 512-98 points advantage in those games.
The battle between the Bearcats’ state-leading offense and Polo’s smothering defense will be a key of emphasis in this one, but it could be M-CP’s under-the-radar defense that comes in the clutch.
Sidenote, can we just take a second to appreciate Polo’s mascot, the Marcos? That’s right, Polo High School — home of the Polo Marcos.
