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After a seesaw first half that saw UT lead 28-27 at the break, the Panthers piled on five more touchdowns in the second half and ran away with a 63-46 season-ending win at Galesburg on Friday night.  The last of five first-half lead changes was a 53-yard pass from QB Matthew Kelley to Korey Randle to put the Panthers ahead.  It was Randle’s 2nd TD of the half, following two scores by RB Isaiah Navarrete.

In the second half, Navarrete ran for two more scores, and Kelley dashed for three TDs, from 22, 33, and finally 69 yards out to seal the win with 3:39 left in the 4th quarter.  Kelley wound up with 247 yards rushing and another 135 through the air.  Navarrete totaled 110 yards and the four scores on just eight carries. For Galesburg, Amarie Richardson ran for 192 yards and scored three times, including 90 yards with the game’s opening kickoff.

The Panthers finish the season 4-5, 2-4 in Western Big Six play.  The Silver Streaks end up at 2-7, 1-5.

Though the Maroons kept fighting until the end, ultimately it was key turnovers that cost Moline a chance to make the playoffs, in a 22-17 defeat at Sterling in Friday night’s season finale.  According to Steve Soucie of Friday Night Drive, who tracks playoff possibilities closely, all 5-4 teams in the state will make the playoffs, so Moline (4-5, 2-4 in WB6) would have gotten into the Class 7A postseason with a win.  Ironically, Sterling (4-5, 4-2) DID make it in Class 5A, according to Soucie, with a strong non-conference schedule tipping the balance their way.

Cale Ledergerber opened the scoring with a 5-yard run to make it 7-0 Sterling in the 1st quarter.  The Maroons answered with a 42-yard TD pass from Elijah Taylor to Zander Ealy to tie the score with 0:49 left in the opening period.  Taylor, though, was intercepted with the ball returned for a touchdown with 3:12 to go in the 2nd, and it was 13-7 Sterling at the half.

After a Sterling field goal, Pablo Perez gave the Maroons a 6-yard TD run with 5:43 left in the 3rd to make it 16-14.  In the 4th quarter, Charlise Martel put Moline in front for the first time, 17-16, with a 20-yard field goal with 8:43 left.  But on their first play after the kickoff, Sterling QB Drew Nettleton threw a pass that receiver Dylan Ottens was able to rip away from the Moline defender and go 62 yards for the score to make it 22-17 Sterling.  A Golden Warriors interception with just over a minute left sealed the victory.

Perez finished with 123 yards rushing, giving him 972 for the season, including his 14th touchdown of the year.  Corbin Schnell ran for 58 yards and ends the year with 714 yards on the ground.

Amare Overton caught a short pass from Jav’eion Clark-Pugh and turned it into a masterful, twisting, turning 71-yard catch-and-run for the go-ahead touchdown with 10:49 left in Rock Island’s 15-12 win at Geneseo on Friday night.  The two then connected on a 2-point conversion pass for the final margin.  After stopping the Maple Leafs on their next possession, the Rocks (3-6, 3-3 in WB6 play) managed to hold the ball for the final 7:42 of the game to secure the victory.  Overton finished with 4 catches for 106 yards and was named the Hungry Hobo Rock Island Rocks Player of the Game.

Each team scored on its first possession, Geneseo (6-3, 3-3) on a 5-yard run by Josh Steines, Rocky on a 19-yard scramble by Clark-Pugh, with Jonas Cortez’ extra point the difference in a Rocks 7-6 halftime lead.  The Rocks received the opening kickoff of the second half and promptly committed turnovers on consecutive possessions.  But despite allowing Geneseo to have a short field, the defense held the Leafs to just a field goal each time to trail 12-7. 

RB Garr Tarr ran for 132 yards on 22 carries.  Clark-Pugh finished 12-of-19 passing for 127 yards, with one TD and one INT.  With the win, the Rocks finish their season with 3 wins in their last 4 games.  They wind up in 3rd place out of the seven WB6 schools playing in the conference.

In Week 9 this Friday night, Moline (4-4, 2-3 in Western Big 6 play) looks to make itself playoff eligible with a win at Sterling (3-5, 3-2). Rock Island (2-6, 2-3), fresh off of knocking Sterling out of the playoffs, visits playoff-bound Geneseo (6-2, 3-2), while United Township (3-5, 1-4) closes out its season at Galesburg (2-6, 1-4). If Moline and Rocky both win, they’ll end the season in a 4-way tie for 2nd place in the conference with Sterling and Geneseo. All games begin with the Crawford Company Pre-Game Show about 6:45 p.m.
Follow the hyperlinks for your favorite team’s live stream:

Moline at Sterling Presented by Sexton Ford
Rock Island at Geneseo Presented by Wheelan-Pressly
United Township at Galesburg Presented by Van Hoe Funeral Home

Rock Island won’t be in the football playoffs this year, but the Rocks have knocked two teams out of the post season picture, first United Township, now Sterling, with Friday’s 14-7 win on the rainy turf of Almquist Field.  

The Rocks (2-6, 2-3 in WB6 play) combined a staunch defense with Garr Tarr’s explosive running for their second victory in the last three contests.  V-Jay Garrard recovered a Sterling fumble and intercepted a Drew Nettleton pass, and the Rocks had a short field after a long snap went over the Golden Warrior punter’s head, all in the 1st quarter, but Rocky wasn’t able to convert those takeaways into points.  But midway through the 2nd, they got consecutive runs of 47 and 26 yards from Tarr to take a 7-0 lead with 6:15 left in the half.  Sterling then mounted its only sustained drive of the game, a 17-play, 66-yard marathon capped off by backup QB Joseph Holcomb’s 1-yard run on 4th and goal for a 7-7 tie with 15 seconds left before the break.

On the Rocks’ first possession of the second half, Tarr took over again, with consecutive runs of 33, 26, and 13 yards for his second touchdown.  Tarr finished with a career-high 225 rushing yards and a 20-yard pass reception, and was named Hungry Hobo Rock Island Rocks Player of the Game.  The defense did the rest, holding Sterling to just 63 yards of offense in the 2nd half.  Particularly stellar was the pass defense, with a rush that harassed QB Drew Nettleton all night, and limited him to just 51 yards in the air, on the heels of a 4 TD pass performance the previous week against Quincy.

Rock Island wraps up its season next Friday at playoff-bound Geneseo (6-2, 3-2).