Late scoring drive, defensive stop lead Streator over Herscher, 16-12

HERSCHER — Last season’s Streator/Herscher game was dominated by the offenses, with 85 points scored and more than 900 yards of offense recorded.

In this year’s contest, the defenses were the story.

The Bulldogs used a 12-play, 66-yard drive in the final minutes to take a four-point lead before the defense stopped the Tigers on fourth down with less than a minute to play to secure a 16-12 victory in both teams’ Illinois Central Eight Conference opener Friday night at Kenneth Seebach Stadium.

“We talked all during the summer that our defense was going to make a difference, and it continues to show, week in and week out,” said Streator head coach Kyle Tutt, his team improving to 2-1 on the season. “They just love to play hard.

“Our defensive coaches were really on them tonight. We were asking them to do a lot of high-level things. We’re not where we need to be with those concepts, but we are getting there. Our defense just kept fighting, picked each other up and didn’t allow any big plays.”

Herscher (1-2) held a 6-0 lead at halftime after QB Brock Wenzelman’s TD run from the 8. Wenzelman finished with 110 yards rushing on 16 tries.

In its four possessions of the opening half, Streator was forced to punt twice, both after crucial penalties backed them up, lost the ball on downs and had the half end.

“We had some things not go our way early, but they all hung in there and believed in what we are doing,” Tutt said. “We came back to a number of plays that were successful in the first half on that final drive, and the kids just executed them, just like we work on in practice.

“[Herscher’s] defense is very stout, but we also had a few times where we shot ourselves in the foot with penalties in the first half. We talked at halftime about cleaning that stuff up, and the kids responded.”

Streator grabbed the lead with nine seconds left in the third on a Christian Benning 2-yard scoring pass to Logan Aukland, with Benning’s pass for the 2-point conversion finding Matt Williamson.

The Tigers then used an 11-play drive, the final play a Clay Schultz (26 carries, 141 yards) TD dash from the 2 to take a 12-8 advantage after the conversion pass was knocked down by Benning.

On the ensuing kickoff, Anthony Mohr returned the ball 9 yards to the Bulldogs’ 34 with 6 minutes, 38 seconds on the clock.

“We came together as a unit, especially in the second half,” Benning said. “I could feel our confidence get better with every series. We made some mistakes in the first half, but all of those were fixed in the second half.

“For me, I guess, I liked that the game was right there in front of us. Down four points, six minutes to go, starting on our own 30 or something – it was like, ‘Here we go, guys. This game is ours, but we are going to have to take it from them.’ ”

Streator drove to the Herscher 47 but faced a fourth-and-4. After a timeout, Benning hit Williamson (seven catches, 57 yards) for a clutch first down to keep the drive alive.

“That was a nerve-wracking play, but Matt ran a great route to get open, like he did all night, and then made a fantastic catch,” Benning said. “Every one of my guys made plays tonight on offense, and we came up with big plays when we needed to.”

The Bulldogs eventually drove the ball to the Tigers’ 5, and Benning did the rest, running off the left end for the score before adding a two-point run with 1:56 left to play.

“I saw what was going to be open,” said Benning, who had 69 yards on 12 carries and was 16 of 25 passing for 151 yards. “It was open all night with their defensive end staying with Aneefy [Ford]. I knew even before the snap that I was taking that one myself. ... I guess it worked out.”

Herscher started at its own 38 and drove to the Streator 44, but a short pass play and three incompletions sealed the win for the visitors.

Herscher finished with a 288-247 advantage in total yards.

Next week, Streator is home against Lisle. Herscher is at Coal City.