After picking up a 42-0 home win over TF North in last week’s opener, Bradley-Bourbonnais went back out on the home field Friday against Crete-Monee and proved that win was no fluke.

The Boilermakers downed the Warriors 41-6, holding a talented Crete-Monee offense off the scoreboard for nearly 47 minutes before letting up a late score. They also recovered three Warrior fumbles, including one forced by Tye Thurmand that was scooped up and ran back 25 yards for a touchdown by lineman Khalan Clemens in the third quarter.

“If it wasn’t for my teammates popping the ball out, I don’t score,” Clemens said. “So I appreciate Tye for that. What’s going through my mind is I see the ball, I see the end zone, and I’m just taking off.”

Clemens is one of a crop of senior linemen on the experienced Boilermaker defense that shut down a Crete-Monee offense that’s led by senior All-State quarterback Derrin Couch and has plenty of electric talent at the skill positions, including Division I talent like receiver Dorian Patterson and running back Jeremiah Stonewall.

While Stonewall was productive, carrying 16 times for 94 yards and a touchdown with 1:07 left in the game, Couch was 4 of 8 passing for just 12 yards, while Patterson had one catch for a single yard.

“I love our defense,” he said. “We have a tradition here. Every time you come to North Street, every time our defense makes a play, you hear on the announcement, ‘Bad Boys Defense.’ That name carries a lot through our state, through the country. Our defense is just amazing.”

Head coach Mike Kohl also said he was happy with how the defense played against a program with a winning track record like Crete-Monee.

“I really respect their program a lot,” he said. “I’m really proud of our guys and how we came out and battled. And defensively to stop an offense like that, they’ve got a lot of weapons on offense. Our defense played really well, rallied around the ball and did a great job with their assignments and alignments.”

The offense for Bradley-Bourbonnais was productive as well, with quarterback Ellis Johnson going 12 of 20 for 164 and three touchdowns and running for a score on a QB sneak.

Lyzale Edmon caught four of those passes for 61 yards and two touchdowns, one from 11 yards out and another from 26. He had four catches for 79 yards and a touchdown in the opener, with the important connection between the Boilermakers’ senior quarterback and senior receiver off to a strong start.

Although it is Johnson’s first season starting under center, Edmon said that their relationship on the field has been developing for some time.

“Me and Ellis have been going to the field every day in the summer since freshman year,” he said. “We’ve been doing that a lot, so it’s kind of easy coming on the field and getting that connection. We’re like Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Burrow.”

Rontez Smith had a 16-yard touchdown reception from Johnson as well, with Calvin Kohl adding three catches for 56 yards.

Ky’ren Edmon carried the ball 14 times for 57 yards and Isaac Allison had 11 carries for 52 yards. Clark Six came in late and had seven carries for 28 yards and a touchdown.

For Crete-Monee, Friday was a bit of a letdown offensively after the Warriors put up 41 points in Week 1, albeit in a 51-41 loss to Richards. A lost fumble on their first possession and a pair of penalties on their second sort of set the tone for the day as they would struggle to get going on that side of the ball.

“You can’t win football games with self-inflicted penalties and turnovers,” he coach John Konecki said. “Those are things that have to be cleaned up. You can’t win games that way, and everybody knows that. We’ll go back to work Monday, be in the film room Sunday, trying to fix what we need to fix.”

Both teams kick off conference play next week, with the Warriors looking to rebound at home next Friday against Southland Athletic Conference foe Thornton. Bradley-Bourbonnais will host Waubonsie Valley to begin Southwest Valley Red Conference play.