RANTOUL - Four seconds was all it took for the jubilation of last week's 31-0 victory over Sherrard to depart the University High School football team's mind.

The Pioneers fumbled the opening kickoff, allowing Rantoul to recover the ball at the U High 22. But the belief was still strong.

"We knew that it was a long game," U High quarterback Tyler Cook said.

But there was no way the Pioneers could recover.

"That really hurt us," U High coach Kurt Olson said.

Facing a Rantoul rushing attack that was knocking the Pioneer defense down like bowling balls, U High was unable to stop it and saw its playoff hopes crumble following a 34-18 Corn Belt Conference road defeat at Bill Walsh Field.

"It is tough because we knew we had everything on the line," Olson said. "We just didn't come ready to go. … The biggest challenge that this team has is getting mentally ready for a game."

There was no way the Pioneers could have prepared for this machine.

Rantoul (2-5 overall, 2-4 in the Corn Belt) rushed 56 times for 237 yards - a 4.2 yards-per-carry average. The Eagles only had five carries that went for negative yards and accounted for 13 of their 16 first downs on the ground.

"We just finally came to age with the offensive line," Rantoul coach Trevor Lehnen said. "It's all starting to click."

And there was no way the Pioneers could stop it.

"They just manhandled us up front on both sides of the ball," Olson said.

Trailing 21-7 midway through the second quarter, U High had the ball first-and-goal from the six. With terrific field position, the Pioneers (2-5, 1-5) failed to capitalize after only managing to gain one yard on their first three plays.

On fourth down at the five, U High was going for the touchdown, but an illegal shift penalty moved the ball back to the 10, forcing Connor Galloway to kick a 28-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 21-10.

"That was a huge stop for them," Olson said. "That was one of the key momentum shifts of the game."

Rantoul fed off it.

Opening the second half with the ball, the Eagles seemingly put the game away on a 12-play, 60-yard drive that consumed 5 minutes, 52 seconds. The drive culminated when Greg Foust scored an eight-yard touchdown.

The Eagles converted two-of-three third-down conversions on the drive and their only fourth-down attempt.

"They just took small chunks (of yards) off but they were continually running the clock the entire time," Olson said. "That was tough."

U High could not respond.

The Pioneers ran only 18 plays in the second half - 19 less than Rantoul - and ran at most four plays on all five of their drives.

"It's hard to win when the offense goes three-and-out," Cook said.

Foust finished with a game-high 114 yards on 25 carries to go along with four touchdowns.

"I was just determined to run the football," said Foust, who had five rushes for 10-or-more yards. "I like to win."

Darron Young added 84 yards on 23 carries.

U High finished with respectable 209 yards of total offense, but could only muster 18 yards on the ground.

"We were getting off the football," Lehnen said. "That's the key to our defense."

Cook threw two touchdown passes - both to David Johnson who had four receptions for 114 yards.