Stockton rolls past banged up, youthful Fieldcrest, 63-6

MINONK – A defeat doesn’t always mean a team takes nothing away from the game.

For Fieldcrest, in its first meeting against Stockton on Saturday afternoon at Veterans Park, a 63-6 loss, the youthful Knights had another 48 minutes to gain experience for the coming seasons.

The Knights (0-7) entered the game in an already difficult position, as the team lacks varsity experience. But now injuries have forced freshman running back Eddie Lorton, senior running back Logan Halley and junior wide receiver Trent Topolski into a quarterback-by-committee situation. Topolski and Lorton each threw two interceptions, with the latter leading the Knights with 31 passing yards on three completions.

Fieldcrest, which trailed 21-0 after one quarter and 49-0 at halftime, scored its only points of the contest on a 10-yard touchdown run by senior Ethan Stoeger in the third quarter.

Lorton ran the ball on a direct snap more often than not, netting a team-best 47 yards on 16 rushing attempts, while Stoeger had 35 yards on the ground on nine tries and Halley 24 on nine totes for a team used to throwing the ball far more often. For the game, the hosts ran 37 times for 103 yards.

“We have a lot of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and first-year seniors playing, so anything we’re doing is just to get more reps and build week to week,” coach Mike Freeman said. “We know next year is coming, and it’s what we’re out here to do.”

Sophomore starting quarterback Koltin Kearfott missed the game, and his production was missed. He has thrown for 1,037 yards and six touchdowns this season.

Freeman said he knew coming in that Stockton is a tough team when it comes to running the ball, and the Blackhawks (3-4) did a lot of it. Five ball carriers scored touchdowns, which included, a 67-yard touchdown from Connor Vincent, a 55-yard touchdown run from Ian Broshous and a 48-yard touchdown run from Jace Phillips. Vincent also went 9 for 9 as the kicker on extra-point attempts.

The Knights have struggled all season with running the ball and made some improvements starting in the third quarter when Lorton, Stoeger, senior Logan Halley and sophomore Jozia Johnson chewed up nice yardage on a drive that started when Stockton coughed up the ball on its own 35.

Defensively, junior Mikael Herrin had a team-leading five tackles for the Knights, while Stoeger added an additional four stops.

The Blackhawks also received defensive production from some of their key offensive players, with Phillips adding an interception that led to a 40-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Caleb Mammoser – his only attempt of the game – to junior wide receiver Drew Mensendike, who also had six tackles. Broshous added two interceptions to go along with his 120 rushing yards, while sophomore Karl Hubb led the game with eight tackles.

Fieldcrest plays its homecoming game Friday night against Heart of Illinois Conference opponent Deer Creek-Mackinaw.

“They’re a tough running team that we played in the spring,” Freeman said of the Chiefs. “They brought a lot of their guys back and they’re talented, so we expect another hard battle against a team that wants to run the ball. They were here today and they saw what and who we are, so it’s going to be another HOIC battle that we have to prepare for.”

Dee-Mack pulled out a 28-27 squeaker against LeRoy in its own homecoming game Friday night and comes into Fieldcrest’s homecoming game with a 4-2 record and in second place in the HOIC Large School Division. Fieldcrest will have the opportunity to play spoiler and put the division further out of reach for the Chiefs.