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The Hall-Putnam County defense came up big on 2-point conversions in Friday’s 35-32 victory over Riverdale in Spring Valley.
The Red Devils stopped the Rams on four of five conversion attempts, with the lone exception being a pass from Kolton Kruse to Jackson Tegeler.
Riverdale attempted to run on its other four conversion attempts.
“Our line was helping stop them,” Hall junior linebacker Aiden Redcliff said. “We chased pulls, our linebackers were shooting, and our DBs were sliding down. We all played straight to the ball. We were playing as a whole team, not just one person.”
HITTING THE ROAD
La Salle-Peru is facing a long road trip Friday as the Cavaliers will travel 220 miles one way to O’Fallon, a drive that will take just over three hours.
The Cavaliers will eat at school then board coach buses and leave at 12:30 p.m. The team will stop at Mount Olive High School about 3:15, where the players will be provided a snack and will stretch and have a brief walk-through.
The Cavs will get back on the bus for the 45-minute drive to O’Fallon, where they will arrive about 5 p.m.
The team also will be provided food on the trip home.
“We’ll pop in a good movie for the road trip that will keep the players focused,” L-P coach Jose Medina said. “We’ll stop, get out to stretch legs and have a brief walk-through. We’ll try to make it as normal as we can for long road trips.”
L-P is 3-5 and needs to beat the Panthers (1-7) for an outside chance at qualifying for the postseason with 37 playoff points entering the final week of the regular season.
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NO-HUDDLE PROVIDES SPARK
Princeton coach Ryan Pearson said the Tigers’ no-huddle offense really sparked them in Friday’s 57-20 win over Mercer County.
“We’ve been working the last couple weeks on our uptempo stuff, and I really think that’s a great equalizer,” he said.
Pearson could be heard on the sidelines saying, “We’re wearing them down.”
PUTTING IN THE WORK
Hall has shown improvement in recent weeks.
The Red Devils trailed Three Rivers Conference Mississippi Division champion Monmouth-Roseville 7-0 at halftime before losing 35-14 a week before their win over Riverdale to improve to 2-6.
“It’s just consistency every day,” Redcliff said. “Weight room every morning. Everyday practice and film. It’s just consistency at the end of the day. We wouldn’t be here without coach [Logan] Larson and him lifting us.”
Hall finishes the season Friday at Rockridge (6-2), which is coming off a 28-18 win over Monmouth-Roseville.
SECOND-QUARTER EXPLOSION
Princeton scored at least 36 points and five touchdowns in the second quarter for the third time in three years to go up 57-12 at halftime Friday.
“For us to come out and put those kind of points up on the board in the second quarter, that’s a testament to not only our offense, but our defense set us up with a blocked punt,” Pearson said. “Just a great team effort tonight.”
Princeton scored five touchdowns and a safety for 39 points in the second quarter of a 59-0 win over Sherrard in Week 3.
In 2022, the Tigers put up 49 second-quarter points on seven scores on the way to a 70-21 win at Mendota.
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SIZE DIFFERENTIAL
As a Class 1A school with a 277-student enrollment, St. Bede is used to playing larger schools.
This season, the Bruins have played six teams with larger enrollments in Tri-Valley (319), Eureka (445), Seneca (390), IVC (614), Dwight/Gardner-South Wilmington (403) and Bloomington Central Catholic (304).
But St. Bede (1-7) will face its biggest size differential yet in the season finale as the Bruins welcome Ottawa to the Academy.
Ottawa (1-7) has an enrollment of 1,233.
The Bruins and Pirates last played Sept. 12, 1980.