Lake Forest 21-14 Belvidere North: Costly second half mistakes help lead the Scouts pass the Blue Thunder.
After a dominant first drive for Belvidere North. The Blue Thunder seemed to have everything going their way in the first half. The offense kept marching down the field, taking time off the clock, playing Belvidere North football. At the same time North’s defense kept Lake Forest in check after allowing about a total of 31 yards of offense in the first half. Some big halftime adjustments were needed by the Scouts as they were able to come back down by 14 to tie the game up late in the 4th quarter. Eventually scoring the go-ahead touchdown with just a few minutes remaining in the game to give Lake Forest the huge upset win over the Belvidere North Blue Thunder. In all three loses this season North struggled to close games out. It happened with Boylan early on in the season and we saw it happen again vs Harlem as the Huskies were able to score the game-winning touchdown with less than a minute remaining. North has nothing to hang their head about, the players left everything they had out on the field. The Blue Thunder showed to the rest of the NIC-10 that this team isn’t going anywhere. North will be back competing for a NIC-10 championship next season!
Wheaton-Warrenville South 50-23 Harlem: The Huskies may have lost but they didn’t go down easy.
Wheaton-Warrenville South was a very good balanced team heading into this match-up and its always tough playing an opponent you’ve never seen before. Warrenville South got off to a hot start and jumped out to an early 20 point lead. Harlem stayed competitive and kept believing they could come back no matter how many points the team was down by. That’s been the story of the Huskies this season, they never quit, they never rolled over and they just kept fighting until the last whistle! We all saw that in the 4th quarter as Harlem was able to grab a couple scores late but unfortunately there just wasn’t enough time left on the clock. Over the last 20 years Harlem is now 1-16 vs non-conference opponents in the playoffs. The Huskies should be proud of the season they accomplished, their offense was on fire throughout the entire season led by star QB James Cooper Jr. and company. There were a few bumps in the road but with a new Head Coach Harlem was still able to compete for a conference title and make another playoff appearance representing the NIC-10 and the Rockford area!
Boylan 49-0 Chicago-Harlan: The Titans defense looked sharp in their 5A playoff opener!
Boylan jumped out to an early 42-0 nothing lead at halftime to start a running clock in the second half. The second seeded Titans went on to win 49-0 in a big shutout victory in the first round of the 2019 IHSA playoffs. Boylan’s defense has been so impressive this season, allowing 74 total points in their 10 games played so far this season while also allowing a total of 19 yards on Saturday. Great win for Boylan!
Hononegah 43-17 Fox Lake: QB Peyton Mather leads his Indians to victory while also setting a new record along the way!
Early on Hononegah jumped to a 29-3 lead before Fox Lake started to make their comeback. Fox Lake was able to make it a 12 point game until QB Peyton Mather took over leading his Indians to a first round victory 43-17. Along the way Mather threw 5 touchdown passes including a couple long ones which gave him 28 on the season setting a new NIC-10 record for touchdown passes in a season! Peyton Mather also set a new school passing-record during the game. Hononegah will travel to Batavia (8-2) next week for second round playoff action as the Indians eye a trip back to the state quarterfinals for the first time since 1996!
Hersey 49-0 Auburn: The Knights struggled to move the ball on the road as they fall to Hersey.
Auburn had a tough road round one match-up vs Chicago-Hersey as Hersey came flying out of the game jumping out to an 49-0 halftime lead. As the running clock started in the second half everything stayed the same as the Auburn Knight’s season came to an end with an early round playoff exit. Again nothing to hang your head about, those kids played their tails off and represented Rockford and the rest of the NIC-10 well in 2019!
Some other around the area playoff scores:
Big Northern:
Byron 50-28 Alleman
Stillman Valley 32-6 Dixon
Princeton 51-26 North Boone
Genoa-Kingston 44-0 North Chicago
NUIC:
Le-Win 46-8 Aurora Christian
Aquin 55-38 Fulton
Forreston 42-7 Marquette
Orangeville 32-0 Hope
Stockton 20-7 Princeville
Du-Pec 44-12 Harlan e
Fieldcrest 20-8 West Carroll
Out of Conference Scores:
Prospect 55-53 Dekalb