It’s Week 2 of the 2024 high school football season! We’re back for our 11th season of exciting, live play-by-play action!
Here are the links for Friday night’s games:

6:00 United Township vs Chicago Muchin Presented by Van Hoe
7:00 Moline at Lisle Benet Academy Presented by Sexton Ford
7:00 Dunlap at Rock Island Presented by Wheelan-Pressly

This is the link to the FULL COURT PRESS live stream.

You can catch the podcast of past episodes here:  Full Court Press Podcasts

This is the place for QCSportsNet’s live, local sports talk show featuring some of the biggest names in the history of Quad Cities sports media.  Our next show is this Wednesday (September 4th) at 7:00 p.m., live from Riverfront Grille in Rock Island
JOINING US LIVE:
* Co-hosts John Marx and Ken Jacoby will disagree about what will happen in the NFL this season
* Our resident podcaster Joe Winkel will join to set us straight
* We’ll review your Bears predictions from our FCP poll

PRESENTED BY charter sponsors Godfather’s Pizza in Silvis, Crawford Company, Neil Ferrari State Farm Insurance, Wheelan-Pressly, and Hungry Hobo.  Limited additional sponsorship opportunities are available by contacting Ken Jacoby at (309) 912-5135 or ken@qcsportsnet.com.

In a see-saw game that saw the teams alternate scoring plays throughout, the United Township Panthers were unable to convert on their final opportunity, a 26-yard field goal try with less than two minutes to play, and fell at LaSalle-Peru 18-16 Friday night, in the season opener for both teams.

Isaiah Navarette had a spectacular performance for the Panthers, running for two long touchdowns and finishing with 198 yards rushing on 23 carries.  He was named Godfather’s Pizza Panthers Player of the Game.

Navarette’s 53-yard score put UT up 7-0 on their opening possession.  The Cavaliers’ Adrian Arzola returned the ensuing kickoff 85 yards to the end zone.  A missed extra point left the Panthers in the lead, 7-6.  Rowan Kallal added a 34-yard field goal late in the first, and the Panthers led 10-6 at the half.

L-P scored late in the third quarter to go up 12-10, with the Panthers stopping a 2-point conversion attempt.  Navarette’s 80-yard scamper reclaimed the lead at 16-12 (after a missed extra point kick) with 0:52 left in the third.  The Panthers had a chance to extend the lead, but lost the ball on a fumble at the Cavaliers’ 41 yard line.  On the next play, freshman QB Marion Persich connected with Arzola on the go-ahead 59-yard TD.  It was a rare offensive outburst for the Cavaliers, who were held to 217 total yards by the Panthers defense.  It was followed by another missed extra point, leaving UT down 18-16.  After an exchange of 3-and-outs, Jasiah Massey gave the Panthers a chance, returning a punt to the L-P 27 yard line.  UT drove down to the 5, ended up at the 9 yard line, but Kallal’s 26-yard attempt was wide left.

The Panthers host Chicago Noble/Muchin on Friday, with an early kickoff scheduled for 6:00 p.m. at the Soule Bowl.  We’ll have the live play-by-play coverage on QCSportsNet.com.

In a high-scoring game with a wild finish, Moline escaped with a 41-40 overtime win over visiting Rockwood Summit (Fenton, MO) Friday night at Browning Field.  Trailing 34-21 with 3 minutes left, Summit scored two late TDs, the second one tying the game with 32 seconds left.  But the Maroons blocked the extra point to send the game to OT.

In the extra period, Summit scored right away but missed the extra point.  Colin Fredrickson ran to the end zone to tie it for the Maroons.  Then kicker Nolan Ducey, who missed two earlier extra points, booted it through the uprights to win the game and become the last-second hero.

Eli Warren led the Maroons’ rushing attack with 136 yards and two scores, and was named the Moline Maroons Godfather’s Player of the Game.  Fredrickson finished with 2 TDs.  QB Elijah Taylor threw for 108 yards and a score.  RB Adrian Cooper had just one carry for 24 yards, but made a key defensive play, returning a fumble for a 4^th quarter touchdown. 

The Maroons visit Benet Academy (who opens its season at Hillcrest on Saturday) next Friday night in Lisle.  We’ll have the live play-by-play on QCSportsNet.com.

Rock Island hung with heavily favored Minooka almost until halftime.  Then the wheels came off, and the perennial Class 8A playoff team came away with a 49-14 win at Rocky on Friday night.  Trailing 7-0, Rocks’ QB Jae’Vion Clark-Pugh threw 29 yards to Evan Ellis, then a short pass to Elijah Venegas that Venegas turned into a 22-yard touchdown scamper to tie the game 7-7 with 6:06 left in the second quarter. 

The sequence that changed the game began with Minooka capping off a sustained drive with a 3-yard TD run by Chase Nurczyk with 2:03 left for a 14-7 lead.  Unable to move the ball, Rocky punted, and on the next play, Minooka QB Zane Caves found Ty Couch for a 55-yard bomb to make it 21-7.  Though the Rocks had the turnover edge, recovering two fumbles, they capitalized on neither, while their one mistake was a pick-six, an interception returned for TD with 5.6 seconds remaining and a 28-7 halftime score. 

Minooka ground out three second half touchdown drives, while Rocky’s only answer was Venegas getting behind the defense to catch a 40-yard TD strike from Clark-Pugh.  Venegas (7 catches, 104 yards, 2 TDs) and defender George Tate, who made several spectacular stops, were named Hungry Hobo Rock Island Rocks Players of the Game.  Clark-Pugh finished 11-of-24 passing for 146 yards. 

The Rocks were outgained 439 yards to 248, including 293-102 on the ground.  Isaiss Duarte led the Rocks with 46 rushing yards.  Paris Spears (12-106, TD) and Nurczyk (12-89, TD), led Minooka’s ground attack, while Caves finished 9-of-15 for 146 yards and three scores.  The Rocks host Dunlap (48-0 winners over Galesburg) next Friday night.