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Week 5 prep football highlights

Posted by: Fred Kroner

Saturday, September 26, 2009 2:59 PM

Plenty of action on the prep football scene in Week 5. Here's a synopsis of the highlights.

Check out Sunday's News-Gazette for the updated area top 10 football rankings. There's sure to be changes.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

IT HASN’T ALWAYS BEEN THIS WAY
Centennial holds a 23-15 lead in the all-time football series against Urbana, but the Tigers were the dominant program throughout more than the first two decades of the rivalry. Following the Tigers’ 20-14 win in 1994, Urbana held a 14-9 lead in the series. Centennial, however, has now won 14 of the past 15 games, the lone exception the Tigers’ 26-24 triumph in 2004. According to the IHSA, Centennial’s defensive effort against the run in Friday’s 59-14 triumph was the seventh-best in state history. The Chargers limited Urbana to minus-59 yards on the ground. The all-time state record for a game is minus-97 yards rushing.

PLAYOFF ELIGIBLE
Danville, St. Thomas More and Unity have 5-0 season records and are the first schools from The News-Gazette circulation area to become playoff-eligible, but to guarantee themselves a berth in the postseason, each school will need to win one more game during the final four weeks. Teams which finish with 5-4 records are considered for the 256 available postseason slots, but last year a dozen five-win teams didn’t qualify.

THEN THERE WILL BE ONE
The Big 12 Conference and the Sangamon Valley Conference will have undisputed leaders by this time next week. The only 5-0 teams in the Big 12, Danville and Decatur MacArthur, will tackle one another on Friday at Danville’s Whitesell Field. At St. Thomas More, the only schools with unblemished marks in the SVC will oppose one another when St. Joseph-Ogden comes to town. Another marquee matchup on Friday will occur in Tolono where the 5-0 Rockets face Decatur St. Teresa’s 5-0 Bulldogs.

HOMECOMING CHEERS, TEARS
Homecoming fans left happy at half of the 10 area sites which had Friday night celebrations. Those who saw their teams win were Centennial, Hoopeston Area, Salt Fork (Catlin), Tuscola and Westville. Coming up on the short of a win on Homecoming Night were Argenta-Oreana, Blue Ridge, Cerro Gordo/DeLand-Weldon, Rantoul and Ridgeview. The most popular homecoming night of the season will occur this Friday, when festivities will take place at 12 locations, including Danville, Fisher, Monticello, Paxton-Buckley-Loda and St. Thomas More.

FIRST TO 1,000
Monticello senior Ben Palla became the first area athlete to reach the 1,000-yard mark for passing this season. He completed three straight passes in the Sages’ opening drive at Clinton, capped by a 28-yarder to Cale Huisinga which put him above the 1,000 plateau. The 28-yard catch was the 66th of Huisinga’s career, which tied the school record held by Adam Gaskill. Huisinga caught four more passes to snare the record for himself. Despite Palla’s passing prowess (1,196 yards for the season), Monticello has close to a 50-50 split in its play calling with 138 running plays and 127 pass plays after five games.

CAN’T GET ENOUGH MCP?
Check out the web site coach Nate Albaugh is putting together: (www.mcpfootball.com) for video highlights as well as written recaps of the Bearcats’ games. It’s an impressive display.

NOTEBOOK ITEMS
Senior receiver Matt Pflum is Tuscola’s homecoming king. He was in on three tackles in the shutout over Warrensburg-Latham. ... The 36-0 win by Lincoln-Way East at Homewood-Flossmoor on Friday improved the team’s record to 5-0 and marked the 100th game as head coach for Monticello native Rob Zvonar, who has won 79 of those contests. His team, ranked second in Class 8A, plays host to 4-1 Orland Park Sandburg, on Friday. ... Central’s Maroons made their last regular-season road trip on Friday. The team plays its final four games at Tommy Stewart Field, including the Oct. 16 showdown with Centennial when it will be the visiting team. ... St. Thomas More’s Julian Boswell completed 10 passes at Clifton Central with six receivers getting in on the action. His completions went for 230 yards. ... Tri-County’s shutout at Martinsville was the program’s first in 28 games. ... Danville’s 56-18 win at Eisenhower was in a game that featured 29 penalties, 13 whistled against the Vikings. ... Before Oakwood/Armstrong-Potomac scored its decisive 41-14 victory at Georgetown, the Comets had to overcome a 14-0 first-period deficit.

GAME BALLS

JOSH BUTTS, Centennial. Senior scored on TD passes of 40 and 51 yards and played lockdown 1-on-1 defense against Urbana’s Kyle Clevenger in the first half.

LANDON TOLLEY, Paxton-Buckley-Loda. Junior not only led the Panthers in rushing, but also scored a TD on a 60-yard interception return.

JOHN TURNER, Villa Grove. Junior workhorse followed up on last week’s 29-carry performance by rushing 30 times for a team-high 152 yards.

BRANDON DIXON, Salt Fork. Sophomore scored TDs three ways: on a kickoff return to open the game, on a pass from Joe Pratt and on a 6-yard run.

JUSTIN MARCH, Danville, Junior one of area’s top tacklers showed his offensive prowess, scoring three touchdowns.

TEAMS OF THE WEEK

ARTHUR-LOVINGTON
Coach Dale Schuring’s Knights have rebounded from an 0-2 start with a three-game winning streak and are 1-1 in games decided by a point after dealing Cerro Gordo/DeLand-Weldon its first Little Okaw Valley Conference setback.

ST. JOSEPH-OGDEN
The Spartans are on a roll offensively as well as defensively. While compiling a three-game winning streak, the team has outscored its opponents 117-9. Jake Bock took over as the area rushing leader and needs just 57 yards to reach 1,000 for the season.