The Moline Maroons committed 15 penalties. They were intercepted twice. They were gashed by a 27-yard TD run on their opponent’s first possession. They managed just one score the entire second half. Oh yeah, and the Moline Maroons rolled to a 40-7 win at Galesburg on Friday night, setting themselves up for a season finale that could earn them a home playoff game and sole possession of second place in the final Western Big 6 standings.
After Maroons QB Eli Taylor threw a 21-yard TD to Alex Rubingh on the opening possession of the game, the Silver Streaks answered with that TD run by Jamar Range, the conference’s leading rusher who entered the game with more than 1,100 yards for the season.
A barrage of Moline offense soon followed. In less than 13 minutes, the Maroons got touchdown runs of 12 yards by Corbin Schnell, 13 yards by Drew Vandevoorde, 8 yards by Marc Cary following a fumble recovery on kickoff coverage, and 39 yards by Vandevoorde, giving Moline a 33-7 halftime advantage. Coming into the game with one score on the season, Vandevoorde earned Godfather’s Pizza Moline Maroons Player of the Game honors.
Cary added an 11-yard TD run in the third quarter to cap off the scoring, but the real story of the second half was the Maroons’ defense, which held Range to -4 yards on five carries, and 23 yards on 13 runs for the entire game. Cary wound up with 86 yards on 14 carries, while Taylor finished 12-for-15 for 172 yards despite the two picks.
The Maroons (6-2, 4-1 in WB6 play) finish the regular season against Sterling (5-3, 4-1) at Browning Field next Friday night. A win would put Moline at 7-2 and in line for a possible home game in the opening round of the playoffs, while clinching second place in the conference, behind only #2 ranked (in class 7A) Quincy, who finished their conference slate 6-0, beating Geneseo 55-18.