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| SportsSaturday, October 7, 2006 8:03 PM CDT |
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Bloomington holds off Centennial
CHAMPAIGN -- It was all too clear Mikel Leshoure wasn’t going to run out of gas. Bloomington High School’s football team had to make sure the Champaign Centennial star tailback ran out of time. The Purple Raiders survived 45 carries, 192 yards and two touchdowns from Leshoure and held on for a 27-24 Big 12 Conference victory Friday night at Tommy Stewart Field. BHS (6-1 overall and in the conference) built a 24-3 lead early in the third quarter, but needed a 26-yard field goal from sophomore Adam Peden with six minutes left to withstand a Leshoure-led rally by Centennial (5-2, 5-2). The Chargers cut the 24-3 deficit to 24-17 with 7- and 5-yard TD runs by Leshoure. After Peden’s field goal, his second of the game, gave BHS breathing room at 27-17, Centennial scored with 1:07 left when Tony Petruzzello caught Peter Mueller’s tipped pass in the end zone. Not until BHS’ Eric Furler recovered the ensuing onside kick could the Raiders finally exhale. “There were some mistakes made (by BHS) that a good team can’t make, but we found a way to win,” Raiders’ coach Rigo Schmelzer said. “The kids did play hard and they did not give up.” BHS built its cushion largely through the air. With the game tied at 3-3 in the second quarter, senior quarterback Stephen Esch hooked up with senior wide receiver David Cook on 43- and 53-yard touchdown passes for a 17-3 lead. On the first drive of the third quarter, a 41-yard completion from Esch to Josh Mitchell and a 20-yarder to Cook set up Darrelynn Dunn’s 3-yard touchdown run, providing the 24-3 margin. “We knew they were going to try to man up (play man-to-man coverage) all the way across the board,” said Cook, who caught five passes for 139 yards. “Coach said we ought to try to take advantage of it.” The 6-foot-2, 215-pound Leshoure took over, carrying nine out of 10 plays on a 61-yard scoring drive he capped with the 7-yard TD run. Leshoure scored early in the fourth quarter two plays after BHS fumbled at its own 13-yard line, the second of three lost fumbles by the Raiders. From that point on, it was a race against the clock as the junior Leshoure upped his season totals to 1,555 yards and 20 touchdowns. He had a 41-yard touchdown run called back by a penalty and caught three passes for 49 yards. “He was running hard in the second half,” said BHS senior linebacker Joey Tyson, who had a team-high 15 tackles. “But we pulled it out. We did what we had to do. “We can learn a lot from this … to just play as a team and keep our heads up as we play.” Esch finished 8 of 14 passing for 208 yards, with Mitchell catching three passes for 69 yards. Mitchell also intercepted a pass on defense, while Levi Johnson added 12 tackles and recovered a fumble. Matt Musick and Dunn had 10 tackles each. BHS lost a fumble at its own 19 and had a punt blocked at its own 8 in the first quarter. However, Centennial came away with only three points, allowing Peden to tie the game with a 33-yard field goal late in the period. “That was a huge part of this game,” Schmelzer said. “We hold them to three off of some miscues by our offense. We then got into a rhythm and were able to get them back on their heels. “He (Leshoure) gets stronger as the game continues. He got a lot of his yards in the third and the fourth (quarters). He was picking his holes very well. He’s a good player.” Centennial coach Mike McDonnell called Leshoure’s performance “outstanding.” “He pounded it in there and gained yardage and broke tackles,” McDonnell said. “The offensive line fought them all the way. This is hard. Our kids know they should have won the game. It was just things we did wrong.” |
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