Thursday night’s Illinois 8-man Football Association clash between St. Anne and Milford/Cissna Park was shaping up to be a close contest through the first two quarters, as could be expected for a game between two of the state’s top 8-man teams.

But then the second half started, and St. Anne took off running.

The visiting Cardinals (7-1) pulled away for a 61-28 win over Milford/Cissna Park (6-2), outscoring the host Bearcats 42-8 in the second half to turn a 20-19 halftime deficit into a 33-point win.

Now in its third season back since the football program was resurrected, St. Anne took down the Bearcats for the first time. The Cardinals fell 70-21 two seasons ago and then took a narrow 32-26 loss last season.

Senior Quinton Thompsen ran for 233 of the team’s 404 rushing yards and four of their nine touchdowns on Thursday. He remembers those previous losses and said the team has put in work to come out on the winning side of games like this.

“It’s consistency, and we put the work in every day,” he said. “We do it all year round to prepare for moments like this. It showed, and it paid off.”

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St. Anne's Quinton Thompsen runs the ball against Milford-Cissna Park defenders during St. Anne's 61-28 victory over Milford-Cissna Park on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Michael Savoie for Shaw Local News Network)

Quarterback Grant Pomaranski connected with Matthew Langellier for a 49-yard touchdown in the second quarter, and Pomaranski’s 12-yard rushing touchdown early in the third quarter put the Cardinals ahead 26-20 and gave them the lead for good.

It was the first of three rushing touchdowns for Pomaranski in the second half. He also found Langellier again for a 20-yard touchdown.

Pomaranski finished 5 of 6 passing for 109 yards and those two scores while running for 127 more yards. Langellier finished with 90 receiving yards and also had seven tackles and a team-high three passes defended. Brandon Schoth and Raleigh Hays had five tackles apiece. Each also had a fumble recovery and forced fumble.

St. Anne head coach Alan Rood said it was great to see the team really push through in the second half and pick up a big win in the late stages of the season.

“We’re just fighters, man,” he said. “We’re hard-nosed Cardinals. We’ve got some great seniors, and a lot of guys stepped up tonight against a great team in Milford. It’s great to see our guys be victorious in our third season and earn that victory finally over Milford, because they are a great program.”

The Cardinals will wrap the season next Friday against Blue Ridge before heading into the playoffs for the second straight season.

“We’ve just got to keep doing the same thing each week,” Rood said. “Grind it out, learn, continue to work hard, because that’s what we’re doing every day. We’re working on blocking, we’re working on tackling, we’re working on securing the ball and taking the ball away.

“...When we go into the playoffs and we’re rolling, it’s however it works. We’ve got to go win each week, and we’ve got to compete and be the best we can by the preparation we put in.”

For Milford/Cissna Park, the first half got off to a good start.

On a trick play, quarterback Dierks Neukomm caught a touchdown pass on the game’s opening possession from Lucas Summers. Neukomm found Skyler Estay for a 45-yard touchdown on a screen pass on the Bearcats’ second drive and threw a 28-yard touchdown to Jace Comstock with just under three minutes to go in the half.

Mario Martinez punched the ball in from a yard out in the fourth quarter to cap the Bearcat scoring.

Head coach Clint Swartz said he wants to see the team shake off the loss heading into next week’s season finale against Unity Christian/Mt. Pulaski before hitting the postseason.

“We’ve just got to clean some things up,” he said. “There were a lot of things that were kind of shooting us in the foot, just penalties here and there. Overall, our guys will be fine. We’ll bounce back, and we’ve just got to be able to stop the run.

“...Our players are really good kids. They’re going to learn from it, and we’re definitely not going to hang our heads.”