Le-Win tops Fulton in 1A quarterfinal

LENA – Representation for a conference that has won all but two Class 1A championships since 2010, and all but six in the last 20 years, came down to the final pair of NUIC teams that remained Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinal round.

The last NUIC team left standing in hopes to compete for the 1A title will be a familiar one, as defending champion Lena-Winslow scored early and often to defeat Fulton 54-28 at the Panther Bowl.

Fulton, in its first season in the small-school football power league, finishes 9-3 and a game short of its first semifinal appearance since 2000. Unlike its earlier game with the Panthers, a 54-7 homecoming blowout on Sept. 24, the Steamers scored more often this time around, but it was too little, too late after being buried in an 18-0 hole.

“We were ready for them, but they’re a very difficult team to stop,” Steamers coach Patrick Lower said. “You can’t say enough good things about Lena-Winslow, they’re a heck of a football team, and we got beat by a better football team today. We did some good things out there, but just didn’t do enough.”

Much of the Panthers’ early dominance came from senior running back Marey Roby, whose first two touches of the ball resulted in scoring plays of 71 and 38 yards. Those plays were the Panthers’ first and fourth plays of the game from scrimmage, and Roby finished with 254 yards on 22 plays.

Jake Zeal scored from 1 yard out with 7.3 seconds left in the first quarter to extend the Panthers’ lead to 18-0.

“This is what happens when we control the line of scrimmage,” said Roby, who had 202 yards by halftime. “It all starts with the big boys up front. We identified where they played strong, and when they shifted to our strong side, we just put a hat on a hat, and I can make one big cut when they do that.”

Fulton hit paydirt for the first time after senior quarterback Patrick Lower scored on a 1-yard keeper with 5:18 left in the first half, but the Panthers’ Gage Dunker countered that score with a 6-yard run on his first touch of the ball for a 24-7 lead. The Steamers stopped the Panthers on their first four two-point conversions, which, if all successful, would have made it a four-touchdown game instead of three.

The Steamers got closer to the Panthers’ lead on the next kickoff when Brock Mason returned it 77 yards for a score to close the gap to 24-14 with 4:25 left in the first half.

“We fought, and I couldn’t be more proud of my teammates,” Mason said. “Everybody fought, but it just didn’t turn out in our favor. [Lena-Winslow] is a heck of a football team, they just outplayed us.”

Roby scored for the third time with 1:39 to go in the half, and Fulton almost countered that on the next drive. The Steamers, whose running game had been bottled up to that point, got to the 5-yard line on successive passes. However, what would have been a touchdown by Jacob Jones on the next play was negated by a rarely-called aiding-the-runner penalty. With one more try at it as the first half clock wound down, Roby intercepted a Lower pass in the end zone to hold off the Steamers.

“Marey Roby is one of the best, if not the best, running backs I’ve ever seen or played against,” Mason said. “Everybody on that team is solid. They don’t have a weak link.”

Le-Win (10-2) rolled from there. Ethan Fye took the Panthers’ first play from scrimmage in the second half 57 yards to the end zone for a 40-14 lead, and Dunker added his second score midway through the third quarter for a 48-14 advantage. Dunker led the Panther defense with 3.5 tackles for loss.

Fulton’s remaining two touchdowns came through the air. Lower passed to Baylen Damhoff for a 15-yard touchdown with 1:54 to play in the third, and passed to Mason from 5 yards out with 2:38 to play in the game.

“We wanted to come out and punch them early,” the younger Lower said. “Last game we came out a little flat, and this time, unfortunately, we got down 18-0 and just kept playing from behind all day. I’m proud of our offense and the way we moved the ball, but we were behind the 8-ball, and it’s tough to battle back from that far down.”

Lena-Winslow’s last score came on an Ayden Packard 3-yard run with 5:04 remaining in the game.

The Panthers will make their eighth semifinal appearance in the last 13 seasons, and are one step closer to playing for their fifth state championship. The Panthers will take on the Colfax Ridgeview-Lexington co-op Saturday afternoon back at the Panther Bowl.

“One game at a time,” Roby said. “We’ve just got to control the line of scrimmage and not get too ahead of ourselves. We don’t want to overlook any opponents, and in 2018 [against Forreston], it definitely happened. We won’t overlook anyone, and we’ll play out hearts out. This is what can happen when we play our tails off.”

Since the first loss to the Panthers, Fulton hadn’t allowed more than two touchdowns in a game in the 6 weeks leading up to Saturday. The Steamers end a season that’s been with heavy hearts in the last two weeks: Jones’ father, Larry, 51, died on Nov. 4, two days before the Steamers’ second-round playoff win at Ottawa Marquette. Larry was a coach and statistician with the football program and several other sports in Fulton, and Steamers players and coaches wore attire with the initials “LJ” in his honor.

Jones finished with 102 receiving yards on eight catches as the younger Lower’s top target. Lower threw for 259 yards on 23-of-34 passing, with three interceptions.

“Our 10 seniors have given us everything, especially with everything we’ve been through these last two weeks,” coach Lower said. “I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. I love each and every one of them, and they’re going to be good, successful young men in the real world.”