Slow-starting Streator falls in overtime at Peotone, 26-20

PEOTONE – The Streator football team regrouped after a slow start for the second consecutive week to put itself in a position to earn a road win over Peotone on Friday night.

Down a pair of scores at halftime and entering the final quarter, the Bulldogs tied the game and had a chance to take the lead with just over a minute to play.

However, a Streator 36-yard field goal sailed just wide, and after one from 31 yards out was blocked in overtime, the Blue Devils’ Dylan Sroka scored on a 5-yard run on third down to give the hosts a 26-20 homecoming and Illinois Central Eight Conference win.

Peotone, which won for the third straight meeting, improves to 4-2 overall and 2-2 in the league. Streator falls to 3-3 and 1-3.

“I know we came out on the wrong end on the scoreboard tonight, but this was a great football game,” said Streator head coach Kyle Tutt. “We play in a very difficult conference where each week brings with it another strong team. Every game is going to be a tough one, but if we continue to compete like we have been, one of these Friday nights we are going to find a way to be on the right side of the scoreboard when the clock hits zeroes.”

Peotone drove 59 yards in six plays, with Sroka scoring on an 8-yard run and the extra-point kick true, on the contest’s opening possession. Streator responded with a 78-yard, 13-play drive, with quarterback Christian Benning hitting Aneefy Ford on a 15-yard scoring pass, but the PAT was wide right.

The hosts made it 13-6 on their second drive, a 13-play, 59-yard march that spanned the first and second periods and was aided by a pair of Bulldogs offsides penalties, with Dawson Piper running the final 4 yards. Peotone then recovered the ensuing onside kick, and on the 12th play of the drive scored on a T.J. Chenoweth 12-yard TD pass to Joel Lee with the PAT boot making it 20-6.

In the second quarter, Peotone held the ball for all but 30.6 seconds of game clock and ran 22 plays to Streator’s two.

“Peotone did a great job, had a great game plan, and was able to control the clock in the first half,” said Tutt. “They were able to get the onside kick, and getting that was a boost for their momentum. They only allowed us one offensive possession really in the opening half, and we just couldn’t find a way to stop them when they had the ball. We had a couple of penalties on their second time with the ball that helped them keep their drive alive, which ended up hurting us.”

After a scoreless third frame and following the Bulldogs defense forcing a loss on downs, Streator closed the gap to 20-13 on a 34-yard TD pass from Benning to Cade Stevens. Another three-and-out gave the visitors the ball at their own 45. After a holding penalty backed the ball up to the 34, Benning hit Ford on a post pattern in the middle of the field, and he raced 66 yards for the score. Parker Phillis’ PAT was good to tie the game at 20-20 with 6 minutes, 52 seconds to go.

The Bulldogs defense, which allowed 189 total yards in the first half but only 79 in the second, forced another punt. Streator drove to the Peotone 19 before having to attempt the aforementioned 36-yard field goal.

In overtime, Streator lost 5 yards on three plays to force the field-goal attempt.

Benning finished 21-of-29 for 265 yards, one interception and three TDs, with Ford collecting 12 catches for 154 yards and Stevens four for 81, while Darryl Gullens rushed seven times for 32 yards.

Peotone — which ran 53 times for 244 yards — was led by Sroka’s 116 yards rushing on 24 tries, followed by Derek Knauer (12 carries-72 yards) and Dawson Piper (11-44).

Streator held a 306-256 advantage in total yards for the game, but were penalized six times for 47 yards. Peotone had a 17-13 advantage in first downs, three penalties for 30 yards and held the ball for 30:24 compared to Streator’s 17:36.

“We continue to be a great second-half team, but we just have to figure out how to get off to better starts so we aren’t playing catch-up,” said Tutt. “We did some really good things on the one drive we did have in the first half, and really all game offensively.

“We just have to find a way to not shoot ourselves in the foot early on.”