Sauk Valley football notebook: Third downs key for Sterling defense

On Alleman’s opening drive on Saturday, the Pioneers converted all three third downs they faced, marching 66 yards in 12 plays to score and take a 6-0 lead over Sterling.

After that drive, the Pioneers were 2-for-9 on third-down attempts and 0-for-3 on fourth downs in what would become a 21-6 Warriors win.

“There were times we lost first down, we lost second down,” Sterling coach Jon Schlemmer said. “All of a sudden they’re third-and-one or third-and-two, and with their quarterback follow stuff, they did a good job getting behind him and rolling with that. I thought they did a good job early on and our kids worked hard to make those adjustments.”

On that first drive, the Pioneers faced third downs needing 4, 2 and 5 yards to move the chains. The rest of the way, Alleman converted third-down tries of 2 and 3 yards and on its seven unsuccessful third downs, it needed to gain an average of 7.6 yards.

Two QBs better than one: Sterling is using a platoon system at quarterback again this year with sophomore Kael Ryan and junior Drew Kested splitting reps.

Kested saw some varsity action in 2019 filling in for an injured Cooper Willman in one game.

The platoon system is not new for Sterling quarterbacks, with Willman platooning with Camden Bailey in 2018.

The Kested-Ryan one-two punch led to 10-of-14 passing for 123 yards, with passes on back-to-back plays from Kael Ryan to Carter Ryan and Trevon Jordan setting up the Warriors’ second touchdown, and another Ryan-to-Ryan pass setting up the third.

“We think both guys have got good strengths that we’re going to put them in situations where they can be successful,” Schlemmer said. “Both guys have different characteristics or attributes we think are positive for playing quarterback here. Both of them did a good job.”

Quick strikes: Early in Friday’s season-opening win over South Beloit, long drives came up empty for Polo while short drives found the end zone.

Polo’s opening drive went 70 yards in nine plays, but resulted in a turnover on downs at the SoBos’ 4. Later in the first half, Polo went on an 11-play, 50-yard drive which also resulted in a turnover on downs deep in South Beloit territory.

Meanwhile, Polo had a one-play scoring drive after recovering a fumble at the SoBos’ 3, a two-play scoring drive with quarterback Tyler Merdian pitching to Parker Wolber on an option play for a 69-yard touchdown, and a two-play scoring drive to open the second half as Merdian went 40 yards for a score.

Mr. Outside, Mr. Inside: The option play worked wonders for Polo with pitches to the outside to Wolber and runs up the middle for Cole Faivre.

It was Wolber getting plenty of running room early while Faivre struggled to get going. With 2:50 left in the first quarter, as Wolber went 69 yards for his second touchdown of the game, he had six carries for 133 yards, while Faivre had five carries for eight yards.

From that point on, it was Faivre getting going, as he had 25 carries for 129 yards and a touchdown, and Wolber had six carries for 36 yards the rest of the way.

Keep the clock running: Morrison won its opener 42-0 over Orion. It was the fourth time since the start of the 2019 season the Mustangs had won by 42 or more points, even beating Bureau Valley by that exact score in 2019.

Since the start of the 2019 season, Morrison has won six games by 30 or more points.

Prior to that, Morrison’s last win by 30 or more points had been Week 1 of the 2017 season against Sherrard, and the Mustangs’ last win by 42 or more was Week 1 of the 2013 season against Princeton.