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Friday Night Drive

Sterling has comeback for ages at UT: Friday’s Sauk Valley football roundup

Maurice De La Cruz

Western Big 6 Conference

Sterling 49, United Township 28: Down 21-3, Sterling was being dominated on the road by the conference-leading Panthers. But after the Golden Warriors got one more possession before halftime and Brady Berlin’s rushing score with six seconds until halftime got Sterling on the board, the comeback was on.

Sterling (2-2, 1-1) went on to outscore UT (3-1, 1-1) 39-7 in the second half as Maurice De La Cruz finished with 127 yards rushing and three TDs on just 13 carries. Berlin was 11 of 19 passing for 101 yards and a TD to Quincy Maas. Sterling also got a safety on a bad end zone snap by UT, and Wyatt Cassens added a rushing TD.

Deseo Ibarra-Castillo had 14 tackles (7 solo) and a sack, Cassens had a sack, Gavino Munoz-Ripley had a sack and Cobey Shipma had an interception.

Sterling held UT’s Isaiah Navarrete to just 55 yards rushing on 16 carries.

“I don’t know what happened, except I can tell you there was a different buzz right at the start of the second half,” Sterling coach Jonathan Schlemmer told Golden Warrior TV. “There was a feel on that sideline I haven’t felt since some of the great teams that we’ve had. And it was the belief, and it was the little things. Man, that was a fun one.”

Big Northern Conference

Dixon 48, North Boone 0: The Dukes (3-1, 3-1) have outscored their last two opponents 118-0 after the loss to Byron. Dixon’s defense has allowed just one touchdown its three games outside of the Byron contest.

Oregon 49, Rock Falls 0: After a scoreless first quarter, the Hawks put up 22 points in the second and 20 in the third quarter in the road win. Benny Olalde, Keaton Salsbury, Jayden Berry, Jakobi Donegan, Xander Garcia and Austyn Morris all had rushing scores for Oregon. Aiden Currier also had a 61-yard kick return TD for the Hawks.

I8FA

Amboy 46, Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland 18: The Clippers improved to 3-1 as Jose Lopez had 153 yards rushing and three TDs. Colt McCoy added 121 yards on the ground with one TD. Cody Winn had a kick return TD and Caiden Heath ran for another for Amboy.

Area scoreboard

West Carroll 48, River Ridge 0

Forreston 36, Morrison 21

Stockton 49, Fulton 0

Rockridge 29, E-P 12

Eastland-Pearl City 30, Fennimore 18

Drake Lansman

Drake Lansman

Sauk Valley Media/Shaw Local sports reporter since May of 2024. Drake is a Bettendorf native who graduated from Iowa State University. He previously covered sports in the Quad Cities area for nine years.