A fan shot off a cannon of purple confetti.

The Mendota band blared “On Mendota.”

After going through the handshake line, the Trojans waited on the field as the student section ran toward them, followed by leaping, hugging, high-fives, and dancing.

There was plenty to celebrate as the Trojans pulled away from Kewanee in the second half for a 45-13 win on homecoming in Mendota.

It was the Trojans’ first home win since 2023.

“It feels awesome,” Mendota senior Aden Tillman said. “Knowing they’re still behind us and have our backs every single time, even after a 16-game losing streak, that’s a really big driving factor in all our minds.”

After beating Sherrard 14-10 in Week 5, the Trojans’ win over Kewanee gave them their first winning streak since wins over Hall and Sherrard on Sept. 24 and Oct. 1, 2021.

“It’s a big thing,” Tillman said. “We’re building a lot of excitement and momentum in this program, and we need that right now. We need this kind of revival of the program.”

Consecutive wins have been rare for Mendota. The current two-game streak is only Mendota’s fourth set of back-to-back wins since 2011, when John McKenzie stepped down as head coach.

“To have this experience tonight with the crowd and the way our student section came out, it might seem silly to the outside coming out on the field like that, but it’s important to these kids and this school and the community to do something like this tonight,” Mendota coach Jim Eustice said. “It’s just awesome to watch.

“It was a great team, program win. After last week breaking the streak, it was how were they going to respond? They practiced hard all week. They’re a little looser now, a little more confident, and I think it showed tonight in all phases. We really played well.”

Mendota grabbed the momentum just before halftime.

After Kewanee scored with 25.2 seconds left in the half to pull within 14-13, the Trojans took over at the Kewanee 43-yard line.

Mendota gained 16 yards, then set up for a 44-yard field goal with 3.8 seconds left. An encroachment penalty moved the ball five yards closer.

The Trojans capitalized when Ethan Escatel booted a 39-yard field goal that bounced off the crossbar and through the uprights as the horn sounded to give Mendota a 17-13 halftime lead.

“That was a lot of momentum,” Tillman said. “It’s a really big thing. It means so much in football, basketball, any sport. Momentum is one of the biggest drivers in team’s victories.”

It was all Mendota from there.

The Trojans scored on the opening drive of the second half on a 10-yard run by Corbin Furar.

Kewanee responded by driving to the Mendota 3, but on fourth-and-3 from the 4, Tillman tackled Kewanee running back Ace LaFollette for a 2-yard loss.

“It’s just all instinct,” Tillman said. “I love making hits. I love making big plays. On that play, I just knew that toss was coming. I saw the motion coming across, and I just jumped it and made a play.”

The Trojans then marched 94 yards on 14 plays - with 13 running plays - and scored when Jayden Lesley ran up the middle, spun out of a tackle and was pushed into the end zone by his blockers for a 10-yard TD run and a 31-13 lead with 4:37 left.

The Trojans ran for 286 yards, led by Furar with 118 yards and two TDs on 20 carries. He scored on a 7-yard run in the first half on the first play after a Kewanee fumble. Tillman also threw a 20-yard TD pass to Keegan Beetz in the first half.

“Recently, we’ve moved two non-linemen to the line in Joe Stewart and Wyatt Ossman,” Tillman said about how Mendota established the run. “They bring so much energy to that O-line. That’s a big driving factor. We have some guys who are confident in moving people. That’s what we did tonight. We moved people.”

The Trojans added two touchdowns in the final 2:25 when freshman Daniel Hoffman broke free for a 54-yard TD run and junior Gavin Stevenson intercepted a pass and returned it 65 yards for a score.

Mendota (2-4, 2-2 TRC) travels to Princeton (3-3, 3-1) next week.