Published: October 19, 2009 06:45 am      

High school football notebook

Herald Staff Report

PRESTON — Preston's improbable goal-line stand in Friday's showdown with Lansing Kee put the Trojans in position to win. They still had to close it out.

That's when Preston players made a call that secured victory.

The Trojans, up 7-6 with just over one minute remaining, took possession on downs inside their own 1-yard line. Preston needed to escape, because a safety would've given the Hawks the lead and the ball with time on their side.

After an incomplete pass on first down, Preston's players went to their bag of tricks.

They decided in the huddle to snap the ball on two, which lured the Hawks offside and resulted in a 5-yard encroachment penalty.

“That was huge, and I commend those boys for that. That was all them,” Preston coach Kevin Behr said. “This is the first team I've been around in many years of coaching that we can go on first sound, 'hut,' the second 'hut,' the third 'hut.' We're very disciplined, and they showed great mental toughness right there.”

Two Kyle Feller rushes and two Jason Feddersen kneels later, the Trojans celebrated at least a share of the Iowa Eight Player District 4 title.

Rebels on a roll

GOOSE LAKE — After starting 2-2 and 1-1 in district play, Northeast has claimed four straight victories to earn a home game in the Iowa Class 1A postseason's substate round.

The Rebels captured second place in District 4 after Friday's 13-12 win over Starmont. Each district's top two teams host substate games.

“The kids are really coming together and playing much better than we were earlier in the year,” Northeast coach Jeremy Mosier said. “You can't say enough about the effort the kids are playing with.”

Mosier called Northeast's come-from-behind win over North Linn on Oct. 2 a key turning point.

In the two games before North Linn, the Rebels suffered a 37-0 loss to Guttenberg Clayton Ridge and earned a sloppy 33-20 win over Edgewood-Colesburg, one of the district's last-place teams.

The Rebels trailed North Linn by four entering the fourth quarter, but they responded for a 20-17 victory.

Wins over potential playoff teams Bellevue and Starmont followed.

“I think that's when everybody realized what we can do when we work together,” Mosier said.

Sullens has big night

CAMANCHE — Camanche running back Mike Sullens rushed for 144 yards on 12 carries in Friday's 18-7 loss to Center Point-Urbana.

His production included an 85-yard touchdown run.

“It was actually an audible at the line by our quarterback, Taylor Grim,” Camanche coach Steve Dougherty said. “He saw a blitz coming to one side, and we've told him to reverse the play when he sees that. He made a good call, we picked up the blocks, and once Mike gets to that third level, you're not going to catch him.”

Sullens has spearheaded Camanche's Wing-T offense. The junior has rushed for a team-high 642 yards and five touchdowns on 133 carries.

He also leads the Indians in tackles and tackles for loss.

“He's very football savvy and has great knowledge of the game,” Dougherty said. “And he's only going to get better. He's only a junior, so he's got one more season to prove himself on the gridiron.”

Mustangs seniors shine

MORRISON, Ill. — With a 20-point halftime lead last Friday against Erie/Prophetstown, Morrison coach Cory Bielema was able to give some of his lesser-known seniors a thrill on their Senior Night, which resulted in a 47-13 victory.

"I think, throughout the game, we were able to get players in, so very early we were able to get seniors in that may not have seen a whole lot of time earlier in the season," Bielema said. "The flow kind of got us off our rhythm, and I even was kind of unaware that Josh (Vos, Morrison's senior fullback, who had 194 yards and three TDs) was having an outstanding night. I was wondering if I'd gotten him enough carries. But overall it was a fun night. I wanted to make sure they got a chance."

One senior who sparkled in his chance for extended minutes was wideout Trevan Burn, who scored on his first reception of the season and was able to get around the ball quite often on several plays at linebacker. Bielema also cited the play of kicker Kyle Dermody, who picked up a few receptions, and several linemen who capably filled in the gaps.



Big play hurts Thunder

SAVANNA, Ill. — For the second straight week, one play did in the Thunder, and for the second straight week, it was late in the game. With the Thunder up 12-10 in the fourth quarter, Pecatonica quarterback Brian Reddy hooked up with receiver Cid Nevenhoven on a seam route for a 35-yard pass play that helped set up a game-winning field goal. It came after West Carroll had been stopped on fourth-and-2 at the Pec 12.

"We ran a lead that had worked well for us earlier in the game, but we didn't get our lead back up in time to block the linebacker," Thunder coach Dave Baisden said.

The field goal knocked the Thunder out of the playoffs and made Pecatonica playoff-eligible all at once.

"We knew it hurt," Baisden said. "We'd been in a position two weeks in a row to take care of our own destiny, and we did what we needed to do by outplaying our opponent, but our opponents were good enough to take advantage of that one play.”

Sabers put together full game

DEWITT — Not only did the Sabers’ win against La Porte City Union on Friday keep their playoff hopes alive, it impressed coach Kurt Kreiter.

“We finally played a full game and played pretty solid,” he said. “Even in our wins this year we have not played very well. It’s frustrating because if we played like that earlier in the year, we might not be in this situation.”

Central DeWitt needs to win its regular-season finale Friday at Vinton-Shellsburg and have Benton Community lose to Marion to ensure moving on.

Cardinals miss chances

MAQUOKETA — Maquoketa might be looking at Friday’s 14-13 loss to Marion in a battle of unbeaten teams as one that got away.

“We played extremely well in the first half and were ahead 13-0 at the half,” coach Kevin Bowman said. “We made some big mistakes on special teams that hurt us. We also had three opportunities inside the 20 and came away with two field goals and missed one.”