By Craig Lang | Prairie Advocate Sports

(L to R) – Eastland golfers, Devin Hartman and Casey Fritz, qualified for the IHSA 1A Sectional tournament at Golf Club of Illinois in Algonquin by shooting matching 79s during the Regional tournament held at Wolf Hollow Golf Club in Lena. Fritz and Hartman tied for third overall to advance.

Football Schedule

October 19

Forreston vs. EPC @ Lanark

AFC at Milledgeville

Polo at West Carroll

Bureau Valley at Morrison

River Ridge at South Beloit

Dakota at Le-Win

Fulton at Kewanee

Machesney Park Harlem at Freeport

Ottawa at Sterling

Rock Falls at Oregon

Sterling Newman at Amboy

EPC Crushes Indians

The Wildcatz took a fourteen to nothing halftime lead and cruised to the easy thirty eight point victory (45-7).

EPC found the endzone on their first possession as running back Ben Thomas ran seventy yards for the score. An eighty yard drive in the second quarter ended with a Tim Vandenburgh TD pass to Skylar Paulson.

The third quarter saw Cody Kluck return the kickoff eighty four yards to paydirt and after a Dakota fumble, Thomas again found the endzone for another score.

Kluck returned an Indian punt sixty six yards for a TD and a Donny Groezinger seventy five yard punt return for a touchdown made the score EPC 38 and Dakota zero. The Indians only score of the game came on a Matt Ryan TD late in the game.

Thomas led the EPC ground game, running the football thirteen times for one hundred forty five yards and two scores. Ryan led Dakota with sixty five yards on twenty carries.

The win sets up next Fridays’s showdown with the Forreston Cardinals in Lanark with the outright NUIC conference title on the line.

Galena Silences Thunder

The Pirates rushing game was hitting on all cylinders as Galena rolled to the forty three point (50-7) win on Friday night in Galena. The Pirates had three rushers run for over one hundred yards and Galena held a 42-7 halftime lead.

West Carroll’s lone score came on an eighty three yard kickoff return by Shaun Magill.

Austin Long led the Galena ground attack, running the football thirteen times for one hundred seventy five yards and a pair of TD’s while teammates Jesse Sinagra and Robert Salgado added one hundred eighteen and one hundred eleven yards respectively. Sinagra found the endzone three times for the Pirates.

The Thunder finish their season on Friday night as they take on the Polo Marcos at Massey Field in Savanna.

Marcos Gain Third Win

In a back and forth affair, the Polo Marcos held off the South Beloit Sobos on Friday night in Polo to claim the three point 29-26 victory. Polo held a narrow 7-6 lead going into quarter two and the start of the second quarter saw South Beloit claim the lead 12-7. The Marcos Ethan Ditzler returned the ensuing kickoff eighty yards to put Polo up 14-12 following the extra point kick. A South Beloit safety put the Marcos on top 16-12 but the Sobos responded with a score to make it 18-16 South Beloit. The Marcos marched the football down the field and retook the lead on a one yard TD run to go back on top 22-18. A twelve yard TD run by South Beloit put the Sobos back on top 26-22 but a twenty one yard run to the endzone by Zach Hagemann gave the Marco’s the lead for good. An Ivan Grogan interception late in the game sealed the victory for Polo. The Marcos travel to Savanna on Friday night to battle the Thunder.

Mustang Defense Sinks Steamers

By BILL POPKIN

The Morrison Mustangs invaded Fulton to battle the Steamers in the annual Wooden Shoe Bowl on October 12. Utilizing a stubborn 5-3 defense, the Mustangs (5-3) came out on top in the game 18-6.

The Steamers (3-5) were held to 153 total yards, only 4 first downs, and had just 2 plays of more than 7 yards in the entire contest. Morrison, on the other hand, amassed 397 yards of offense. 322 yards of that total was from the ground game. The Mustangs now have won every game between these two teams dating back to 2003.

Fulton got on the board first in the game with a 79 yard pass play from Ethan Jones to Austin Reggenwether with 4:55 left in the half. Morrison answered back when Andrew Connelly went over the goal line from 6 yards out to make the score 6-6. The drive covered 73 yards in just 5 plays.

The Mustangs got the ball back again with only :25 remaining in the half. Three plays and 62 yards later Danny Willis hauled in a 26 yard pass from Matt Wilkens to complete the first half scoring. Morrison led 12-6.

In third quarter action neither squad could put points on the board, but Morrison found the end zone again in the final stanza. Connelly dove in from the 2 yard line to cap a drive that spanned 69 yards in 7 minutes. This final touchdown gave the Mustangs an 18-6 victory.

Willis led all rushers in the game with 200 yards. Connelly chipped in 80 more for Morrison. Reggenwether was the top rusher for the Steamers with 98 yards. Morrison also won the preliminary game 14-8.

This week the Mustangs entertain Bureau Valley in the last regular season game of the year. It is also Senior Night. Please try to attend the game to cheer for our young athletes in exciting football action.

Varsity Football Scores

October 12

River Ridge 36 Milledgeville 6

Stockton 26 Le-Win 20

Polo 29 South Beloit 26

Warren 39 AFC 22

Freeport Aquin 42 East Dubuque 28

Forreston 1 Pecatonica 0 (forf.)

Durand 34 Orangeville 28

Sterling Newman 35 Erie/Prophetstown 20

Amboy 48 Bureau Valley 13

Oregon 41 Mendota 14

Sterling 38 Dixon 0

Rock Falls 29 Burlington Central 21

Rockton Hononegah 50 Freeport 12

Rockford Lutheran 43 Stillman Valley 24

Spring Valley Hall 48 Kewanee 18

Winnebago 40 Byron 21

Volleyball Schedule

October 18

Stockton at Eastland

Pearl City at West Carroll (Senior Night)

Freeport Aquin at Milledgeville

River Ridge at Warren

Kewanee at Morrison

Forreston at Polo

Rockford Guilford at Freeport

Bureau Valley at Sterling Newman (Senior Night)

October 19

Eastland, West Carroll, Forreston, Le-Win at Stillman Valley Tournament

October 20

Eastland, West Carroll, Forreston, Le-Win at Stillman Valley Tournament

Morrison at Sterling Tournament

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Varsity Volleyball Results

October 9

Eastland 2 Pearl City 0 (25-19, 25-21)

Milledgeville 2 South Beloit 0 (25-9, 25-13)

Le-Win 2 West Carroll 0 (25-14, 25-20)

AFC 2 Polo 0 (25-18, 25-18)

River Ridge 2 East Dubuque 0 (25-20, 25-18)

Galena 2 Warren 0 (25-16, 25-20)

October 10

Freeport Aquin 2 Forreston 0 (25-21, 25-23)

October 11

Milledgeville 2 Polo 0 (25-14, 25-11)

Stockton 2 West Carroll 0 (25-15, 25-11)

Galena 2 River Ridge 0 (25-8, 25-7)

Morrison 2 Bureau Valley 0 (25-17, 25-19)

Forreston 2 AFC 0 (25-16, 25-17)

Sterling Newman 2 Fulton 0 (26-24, 27-25)

October 13

Linda Ludwig Memorial Tournament

Erie 2 Eastland 0 (27-25, 25-23) Championship game

Durand Tournament

Durand 2 Pearl City 0 (25-15, 25-17) Championship game

Pecatonica Tournament

Dakota 2 West Carroll 0 (21-16, 21-11)

Pecatonica 2 West Carroll 0 (21-19, 21-18)

West Carroll 2 North Boone 1 (23-21, 11-21, 15-13)

Keith Country Day 2 West Carroll 0 (21-12, 21-12)

Scales Mound 2 West Carroll 0 (21-17, 21-15)

Class 1A Volleyball Regional Schedules

Erie Regional

October 22

1-AFC vs, Polo – 7 p.m.

October 23

2-Erie vs. game #1 winner – 6 p.m.

3-Eastland vs. Milledgeville – 7 p.m.

October 25

4-Game #2 winner vs. game #3 winner – 7 p.m.

Pearl City Regional

October 22

1-River Ridge vs. Scales Mound – 6 p.m.

2-Pearl City vs. Warren – 7 p.m.

October 23

3-Stockton vs. game #1 winner – 6 p.m.

4-East Dubuque vs. game #2 winner – 7 p.m.

October 25

5-Game #3 winner vs. game #4 winner – 6 p.m.

Class 2A Volleyball Regional Schedules

Galena Regional

October 22

1-Forreston vs. Pecatonica – 5:30 p.m.

2-Galena vs. West Carroll – 7:30 p.m.

October 23

3-Dakota vs. game #1 winner – 5:30 p.m.

4-Le-Win vs. game #2 winner – 7:30 p.m.

October 25

5-Game #3 winner vs. game #4 winner – 7:30 p.m.

Fulton Regional

October 22

1-Rock Island Alleman vs. Prophetstown – 7 p.m.

October 23

2-Port Byron/Riverdale vs. game #1 winner – 6 p.m.

3-Fulton vs. Morrison – 7 p.m.

October 25

4-Game #2 winner vs. game #3 winner – 6 p.m.