LEXINGTON - The swirling northerly breeze beating across the Lexington High School football field indicated that autumn wind was nearing its peak. Not exactly the ideal weather for the pass-happy Minutemen. But on this night, not even an F-5 tornado could have stopped the Lexington attack.

Despite a brutal wind and muddy track, the Minutemen marched to the second round of the Illinois High School Association Class 1A state playoffs for the second consecutive season following a 48-7 dispatching of Stark County.

"I don't think the wind was really that big of a factor," Lexington coach Don Tanney said. "Most of our passing game tonight was short stuff or intermediate stuff and we really didn't throw any long balls to speak of. It really wasn't that big of a deal."

The 48 points were the most by the Minutemen in the playoffs since a 49-8 win over Joy Westmer in the first round of the 1999 state playoffs.

"We thought coming in it was going to be a real close game," Lexington senior Cody Leigh said.

Lexington put it away early.

On their first drive, the Minutemen (7-3) needed only seven plays to score when Eric Schuler caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Alex Tanney to culminate a 78-yard march.

The Minutemen held their 7-0 lead until midway through the second quarter when Ryan Hanes rumbled off-tackle for a 15-yard scamper to push the lead to 14-0.

Lexington received a critical break after the Rebels' subsequent possession when Devon Knobloch's punt lost four yards, giving the Minutemen the ball on the Stark County 21.

"That gave us great field position and we knew if we kept on pounding it, we were going to put one in," said Alex Tanney, who completed his first six passes. "We were trying to put a big lead on them and put them down."

And the Rebels could never recover.

Four plays later, Bruce Freed hauled in a four-yard touchdown reception from Alex Tanney to put Lexington ahead 20-0 with a little over five minutes remaining in the first half.

With no momentum and every imaginable break going against it, Stark County (6-4) drove to the Minutemen 36-yard line, but the Rebels fumbled the ball, which was scooped up by Freed killing their restored confidence.

Lexington put the game away seven plays later on a three-yard run by Hanes to make it 28-0.

"We just hit on all cylinders tonight," Don Tanney said.

The Minutemen rolled offensively, producing 344 yards of total offense and 22 first downs. Lexington finished with one turnover and committed no penalties.

"I thought we played pretty well fundamentally tonight," Don Tanney said. "I thought our tackling was pretty sharp, thought our blocking was pretty good."

Most importantly, the Minutemen enabled their quarterback to stay in the pocket.

Alex Tanney completed 20-of-28 passes for 279 yards and three touchdowns and was not sacked.

"That helps a lot when I'm able to step up and deliver the ball in time," Alex Tanney said.

It left the Rebels frustrated.

"They throw a lot of ball-control short passes," Stark County coach Jade Noard said. "We didn't act like we knew that."

Alex Tanney completed passes to five different receivers and had consecutive incompletions only twice. At one point, he completed seven passes in a row.

"(Alex) was able to make plays because the guys up front gave him time to make plays," Don Tanney said.

Stark County quarterback Devon Knobloch completed 14-of-28 passes for 148 yards and one touchdown. He finished with two interceptions, both by Leigh who returned one for a touchdown. Dustin Weber finished with 64 rushing yards on 11 carries.

Schuler grabbed 10 passes for 155 yards, while Freed caught seven passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns. T.J. Stinde finished with a 50-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

Eighth-seeded Lexington will face either top-seeded Galena or 16-seed and Heart of Illinois Conference foe Tremont in the next round. That contest kicks off a 1:30 p.m. tonight. No matter what, the Minutemen will play on the road next week.

"We feel we have a lot of momentum right now," Alex Tanney said.

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