Thanks to scheduling quirks both in and out of the Southland Athletic Conference, the Kankakee football team had to wait six weeks between its first home game against Nazareth in Week 1 and its second home game against Bloom last week.

In front of a lively homecoming crowd, the Kays made up for lost time with a dominant 48-0 showing against Bloom. After an 0-2 start against powerhouses Nazareth and Lincoln-Way East, the Kays have now won their last five games, and their Week 4 win at Normal Community is one of the best road wins in the state this season.

Junior quarterback Phillip Turner flung another three touchdowns, Zayden Henley totaled three touchdowns and Cedric Terrell III continued to make his case as one of the state’s best all-around players with a rushing touchdown, a receiving touchdown and an interception.

One of nine area teams that have reached the five-win mark through seven weeks, the Kays can head into the postseason with a 7-2 record and another signature win if they can best Crete-Monee in a Week 9 showdown. While their first two weeks showed that they might not be the best team in all of IHSA football, there don’t seem to be many teams in Class 5A that can match the Kays’ talent and tenacity.

Quick recap

Here are the area’s scores from Week 7:

• Bradley-Bourbonnais 48, DeKalb 19
• Bishop McNamara 29, Wheaton Academy 14
• Kankakee 48, Bloom 0
• Herscher 19, Reed-Custer 13 (OT)
• Wilmington 45, Streator 0
• Coal City 49, Peotone 7
• Manteno 35, Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 13
• Clifton Central 54, Hoopeston 0
• Bismarck-Henning 49, Momence 0
• Oakwood 48, Iroquois West 0
• Westville 55, Watseka 0
• Milford/Cissna Park 64, Blue Ridge 28
• St. Anne 57, St. Thomas More 14

Area teams gobbling up playoff spots

The Kays – and Herscher – are now qualified but still a win away from officially clinching a postseason spot, but after Bishop McNamara got to 6-0 in Week 6, another half dozen teams reached the six-win mark. Bradley-Bourbonnais and Clifton Central rebounded from their first losses of the year in Week 6 with comfortable wins while Coal City and Wilmington continued their unblemished runs through the Illinois Central Eight Conference. Milford/Cissna Park and St. Anne also secured spots in the Illinois 8-Man Association field.

Illinois Central Eight continues to yield epic games

A week after Reed-Custer felt the thrill of victory with Tristan Randall’s field goal at the buzzer against Peotone, the Comets found themselves on the other end of a walk-off finale at Herscher, where Alek Draper’s overtime rushing touchdown gave the Tigers their fifth win that likely snaps their five-year playoff hiatus.

It wasn’t a conference game, but Manteno elected to forego a forfeit win over Lisle and travel to a well-respected Class 1A Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley. Banged up and in need of a win to stay ahead in the playoff race, the Panthers got a gutsy performance by out-manning the physical Falcons with five total rushing touchdowns from Nick Honkisz and Connor Harrod to improve to 4-3.

Spotlight to shine on local I8FA meeting under Milford’s Thursday night lights

The Daily Journal isn’t the most represented area as far as quantity of Illinois 8-Man Football Association teams – just Milford/Cissna Park and St. Anne. But the Bearcats set the initial standard as the inaugural I8FA champions in 2018 and making every postseason since then and the Cardinals have quickly become one of the most powerful programs in the state.

Both teams are 6-1 on the season and have had their dual threat quarterbacks – the Bearcats’ Dierks Neukomm and the Cardinals’ Grant Pomaranski – lead two of the state’s most explosive offenses. Something will give in Milford on Thursday night when the Bearcats host the Cardinals in one of the biggest 8-Man matchups of the regular season.

Weekend’s best

Here are the Daily Journal area’s passing, rushing and receiving leaders from Week 7:

Passing

• Connor Henline, Coal City: 10-of-20, 216 yards, 3 TDs
• Dierks Neukomm, Milford/Cissna Park: 6-of-10, 215 yards, 2 TDs; 73 rushing yards, rushing TD
• Grant Pomaranski, St. Anne: 9-of-16, 182 yards, 3 TDS, 1 INT; 57 rushing yards, rushing TD
• Phillip Turner, Kankakee: 10-of-15, 169 yards, 3 TDs
• Ellis Johnson, Bradley-Bourbonnais: 13-of-15, 166 yards, 4 TDs

Rushing

• Nick Honkisz, Manteno: 18 rushes, 140 yards, 3 TDs
• Quinton Thompsen, St. Anne: 16 rushes, 106 yards, TD
• Connor Harrod, Manteno: 23 rushes, 105 yards, 2 TDs; 130 passing yards
• Alek Draper, Herscher: 17 rushes, 105 yards, TD
• Hunter Kaitschuk, Wilmington: 9 rushes, 76 yards, 4 TDs

Receiving

• Matthew Langellier, St. Anne: 5 receptions, 143 yards, 2 TDs
• Kaden Neveu, Clifton Central: 3 receptions, 132 yards, 2 TDs
• Logan Natyshok, Coal City: 4 receptions, 123 yards, 3 TDs; 78 rushing yards, 2 rushing TDs
• Skyler Estay: 3 receptions, 114 yards, TD; 40-yard rushing TD; 70-yard INT return TD
• Gaige Brown, Herscher: 3 receptions, 101 yards