Customer Service Place an Ad Become a Carrier Contact Us About Us Mobile Edition E-Mail Updates Report Cancellation Submit Milestone
| Subscribe Now Customer Service Place an Ad Become a Carrier Contact Us About Us Mobile Edition E-Mail Updates Report Cancellation Submit Milestone
|
 |
 |
|
Weather  Calendar Obituaries Classifieds Jobs Autos Homes Rentals Coupons Ad Center Gift Finder |
Bloomington-Normal, Illinois
|
Home News Sports
Free Time Life Money Nation/World Opinion Blogs/Columns Archives Site Map |
| SportsSaturday, August 25, 2007 10:21 PM CDT |
 Comments (5) |  E-mail this page |  Print this page |  Enlarge type |  Reduce type |  Search archives |  RSS feeds |  Add to My Yahoo! |
Special teams come up big for NCHS
CHAMPAIGN — Forget about style points. Normal Community High School’s football team was hoping for any points late in the first half Friday night at Tommy Stewart Field. The No. 2-state ranked Ironmen had been thoroughly frustrated on offense by upstart Champaign Central, trailing the Maroons 3-0 with just over a minute left before halftime. The defending Class 6A state champions needed a big play, and senior Jake Kretlow, all 5-foot-7 of him, supplied it. Kretlow roared in to block a punt and teammate Austin Davis scooped it up and returned it to the Champaign 13-yard line. Two plays later, Joey Anderson scored from 3 yards out, giving NCHS a 7-3 halftime lead en route to a 26-10 season-opening victory. “We call it green for go,” Kretlow said of the all-out rush on Champaign punter Stanley Adkisson. “The punter took a step to the right. I read it and went around him (the blocker). Special teams turned the tide of the game.” Senior Matt Lucie recovered an errant punt snap in the end zone for an NCHS touchdown in the third quarter, enabling the Ironmen to win on a night they managed just 81 yards of offense and eight first downs. The snap sailed high over Adkisson’s head and Lucie outhustled the Champaign punter to the ball, knocking him out of the way and recovering it at the back of the end zone. The TD gave NCHS a 20-3 lead midway through the third period. “I didn’t think I would be able to get around him, so I just tried to push him (Adkisson) out of the back of the end zone and get on the ball,” Lucie said. “Our defense and special teams really stepped it up. “We just find a way. That’s all we had to do, just get it done. And we did.” NCHS coach Hud Venerable used three quarterbacks in an attempt to get the offense going. The Ironmen were unable to get into any kind of rhythm, with starter Alex Buck, junior Zac Johnson and Lucie combining for 8 of 18 passing for 67 yards. Davis was the Ironmen’s leading rusher with 25 yards on 12 carries. “We had nothing going offensively. Give credit to their defense,” Venerable said. “Our special teams came through and our defense played very well. “It (offense) was just poor execution across the board. It was poor preparation by the coaching staff ... poor coaching and poor execution by the players. That’s what it comes down to when you’re that spotty.” NCHS stretched its 7-3 lead to 13-3 early in the third quarter on a 13-yard scoring pass from Johnson to Austin Kull. Lucie’s TD provided some breathing room, but Champaign’s Reggie Pace returned a blocked punt 35 yards for a score to make it 20-10. The Ironmen finally sealed it with Davis’ 1-yard TD run with 6:03 left. It was set up by one of Champaign’s five turnovers. “We’re not the same team we were last year. I think it’s obvious,” Venerable said. “We have a lot of work to do and a lot of evaluating to do. “Defensively we got after it. But we have too many players playing both ways. I think we learned that in this weather, you better find people who can go. In this weather it’s awfully hard to play one way, much less two ways. I thought we looked tired.” Get area high school sports scores and statistics at Varsity Sports. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
Top of Page | Home | News | Sports | Free Time | Life | Money | Nation/World | Opinion | Blogs/Columns | Archives | Site Map | RSS
Customer Service | 301 W. Washington St., PO Box 2907, Bloomington, IL 61701-2907 | Ph. 309-829-9000 | 800-747-7323
Copyright © 2009, Pantagraph Publishing Co. and Lee Enterprises. All rights reserved. | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
|
Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.
mr. info wrote on Aug 28, 2007 10:46 PM:
quarterback issue wrote on Aug 28, 2007 12:13 PM:
RMM wrote on Aug 25, 2007 8:41 PM:
bhs student wrote on Aug 25, 2007 3:46 PM:
indygrad wrote on Aug 25, 2007 9:53 AM:
Please read the rules before posting comments.
You must be logged in to leave comments.
If you don't have a member ID, please register.