Panthers create new Routt to victory, rally past Rockets to remain unbeaten in WIVC North

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — Nate Peters is as perceptive as he is talented.

The two-way senior performer for Camp Point Central’s football team admitted he had been quite nervous — and with good reason — in the waning stages of the Panthers’ 22-21 victory Saturday afternoon over Jacksonville Routt.

“They have a good kicker,” said Peters, who then hesitated before finishing his thought. ” … Luckily, he missed that second one.”

That kicker Peters made reference to was Jacksonville Routt’s Brock Runyon, who had provided one booming kick after another Saturday afternoon at Freesen Field. That included what looked to be a game-winning field goal from 27 yards out with 11 seconds to play in regulation. Runyon’s boot split the uprights and a partisan crowd of about 850 began celebrating an apparent Routt victory over its longtime nemesis.

But then a penalty flag was spotted to the left of the line of scrimmage. 

Central had been called for an offside penalty prior to the snap, which meant no play and an automatic 5-yard penalty on the defense.

Runyon’s second try, this one from 22 yards away, wobbled uncharacteristically off to the left, allowing Central to hang on for its first one-point victory since 2015.

“We told our guys to jump (offside),” Central coach Brad Dixon said, a strategy designed to allow Runyon some extra time “to think about” the would-be game-winning kick.

Obviously, the gamesmanship worked.

“Those (closing moments) were nerve-racking,” said Kadin Niekamp, another two-way contributor for Central, who like most of his teammates was wearing his emotions on his uniform sleeve afterward. “I was nervous.”

Niekamp said he “figured it was 50/50” that Runyon would make the winning field goal.

The tense — albeit unusual — ending was befitting the matchup between the two Western Illinois Valley Conference North Division powers. Central (5-1) is now 4-0 in the WIVC North, with Routt (4-2) falling to 3-1. Central can wrap up a third straight unbeaten league slate and fifth consecutive WIVC North title with a win Friday against Triopia in Camp Point..

“We approached this as a second-round playoff game, and that’s how we treated it,” Dixon said.

The victory was Central’s 12th straight over Routt since the Rockets joined the WIVC North in 2013. That winning streak, however, looked to be in serious jeopardy, especially in the first half.

Routt led at intermission 21-8, thanks largely to a big day by senior quarterback Kellen Creviston. A 6-foot-3, 175-pound right-hander with a nice, soft touch, Creviston completed 22 of 38 throws for 348 yards — 207 of those yards and both of his touchdowns coming in the first half. He also ran for a first-half touchdown.

“That’s a very good team, but we were able to shut them out in the second half,” Dixon said. “We didn’t stop them at all in the first half, and it didn’t look good. We had a lot of issues.”

Dixon said Central traditionally does not give up many big plays on defense, but that has been a problem in recent weeks. Two of Routt’s scores came via those aforementioned big plays — a 52-yard pass to Jace Lautemann and 36-yard toss to Charlie Alan.

Niekamp agreed.

“Our pass defense needs to improve,” said Niekamp, who is confident it will. “Our defensive backs adjusted and were much better in the second half.”

Central got a 7-yard scoring run from Niekamp in the third quarter and a 3-yard scoring blast from Peters with 5:38 left in the game. An extra-point kick from Marco Rodriguez following Peters’ touchdown gave Central its 22-21 margin.

Peters also had a two-point conversion run in the first half following an 80-yard scoring run from Zack Wear.

Routt controlled both the clock and the overall flow of the game in the first half. For most of the second half, Central returned the favor. 

“You could just feel the momentum going back and forth,” Peters said.

Central’s usual punishing, time-consuming ground game ended with 264 yards on 57 rushes. In comparison, Routt managed just 5 yards on the ground in 12 tries. The Rockets held a massive edge (348-46) in passing.

Wear (92), Niekamp (55) and Elijah Genenbacher (53) combined for 200 of Central’s rushing yards.