EPC falls short against Falcons

LANARK – A weird chain of events and a missed opportunity resulted in the end of the road for the Eastland-Pearl City football team.

The Wildcatz turned in a championship effort against defending Class 2A champ Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley on Saturday afternoon, but it was the Falcons who found a way to fly out of town with a 14-7 victory.

GCMS (13-0) will now take on Maroa-Forsyth (13-0), a 16-14 winner against Decatur St. Teresa, in a state championship rematch on Friday in Champaign. The Falcons are looking to post back-to-back undefeated seasons; they beat the Trojans 38-32 for the 2A title last year in DeKalb.

“It feels amazing,” all-state running back Jared Trantina said. “It’s everything we’ve worked for since the last game of last season.”

GCMS got all it could handle and then some from Eastland-Pearl City (12-1), but a late special teams mistake by the Wildcatz proved fatal.

Facing a fourth-and-6 from its own 29 and the score tied at 7-7 with a little more than 6 minutes to play, EPC dropped back to punt. Wildcatz punter Aiden Gassman caught the ball cleanly and booted the ball – right into the backside of one of his blockers, Lucas Petersen. It gave GCMS the ball on the EPC 26.

Then things got even stranger. The Falcons moved the ball to the Wildcatz 10, where they faced a third-and-8. With quarterback Nathan Garard in shotgun, the center, Keegan Kutemeier, hiked the ball to an unsuspecting Garard.

Garard scrambled backward, scooped up the loose ball, and fired a strike to wide receiver Ryland Holt, just over the outstretched arms of defender Jarod Kempel, for a go-ahead score. A potentially disastrous play for the Falcons turned into a thing of beauty, from their standpoint.

“It was drawn up that I was going to Ryland,” Garard said. “It was not drawn up that it was going on the ground like that. A guy did not hear me to go in motion, so I was trying to talk to him to go in motion. My center [Kutemeier] thought it was time to snap the ball. Well, it wasn’t.”

Holt was merely looking for some open space on the busted play.

“I saw the ball go back and I was like, ‘Oh crap,’” Holt said. “I saw Nathan get a handle on it and knew he was going to chuck it up. It seemed like the ball was in the air forever. It was like backyard football. You’ve got to go up and get that ball. It was a great play for us.”

On the ensuing drive, EPC had the ball on its own 48, where it faced a third-and-8. After a timeout, the Wildcatz went for broke and nearly hit it big. Jarod Kempel got behind two defenders streaking up the right sideline, and quarterback Braden Smargiassi lofted a ball that was right there, but Kempel couldn’t find the handle at about the 20.

On fourth down, Smargiassi was sacked by Bryce Barnes. Smargiassi fumbled on the play, it was scooped up by offensive lineman Wyatt Hammer, but he was tackled short of a first down. GCMS then ran out the clock.

Neither team scored in the first half, though each had chances. A blocked punt on the game’s first possession by the Falcons’ Hayden Workman gave his team possession at the EPC 21. GCMS went backward from there and was forced to punt.

A motion penalty nullified a 53-yard touchdown pass from Garard to Barnes with just under 5 minutes left in the first quarter.

EPC had two drives go deep into GCMS territory, only to be turned away. On a fourth-and-2 from the Falcons’ 30, Braeden Heeren was dragged down a yard short of a first down.

Just before halftime, the Wildcatz reached the GCMS 23. A fourth-down heave by Smargiassi was batted away in the end zone.

The Falcons seized momentum early in the second half, thanks to a 50-yard kickoff return by junior defensive back Daniel Jones that put his club in business at the EPC 22.

“There were some great blocks right out in front of me, a hole just opened up, and I just followed my blockers down the sideline,” Jones said. “There was a huge hole there. All I had to do was run in a straight line.”

The Falcons, however, were turned away. A delay of game penalty after a measurement for a first down moved the ball back to the EPC 6, and Ben Freehill was wide right on a 23-yard field goal to keep the game scoreless.

GCMS was finally able to break through with 3:56 left in the third quarter after a 4-yard plunge by Trantina. It capped a 10-play, 59-yard march.

After an exchange of interceptions, the Wildcatz were finally able to get on the scoreboard. An eight-play, 68-yard drive ended with a 7-yard halfback option pass from Jayden Kempel to Jarod Kempel with 11:13 remaining in the fourth quarter.

EPC then forced a punt, only to have the game turn around after its own punting misadventure.

Both teams struggled mightily to move the ball against the other’s stout defense.

Trantina, the all-stater with more than 1,500 yards this season, had just 55 yards on 21 carries. GCMS had a mere 136 yards of offense as a team, and turned the ball over three times on two fumbles and an interception.

“Props to them – they had a good game plan,” Trantina said.

EPC, meanwhile, managed just 207 yards against the Falcons.

“They were fast. They were big. They were athletic. They were strong. We just couldn’t break away from them,” Smargiassi said. “I thought we had some plays that could have gone, and they just ran us down.”

EPC was hoping to make it back-to-back games at state come Friday involving NUIC teams. Forreston, a 34-28 upset winner against Lena-Winslow, will take on Camp Point Central for the 1A state title.

The 12 wins for the Wildcatz are the most since they went 14-0 and won state in 2014.

“I was happy to be a part of it,” Smargiassi said. “Obviously it hurts coming up one short of your goal. Last year, we only won five games, and this year, to get all the way here, it was a lot of fun.”

Football

Class 2A semifinal

Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 14, Eastland-Pearl City 7

Star of the game: Jared Trantina. GCMS, 55 yards rushing, TD

Key performers: Jayden Kempel, EPC, 67 yards rushing, TD pass; Lucas Petersen, EPC, 4 catches, 60 yards