Saturday football rewind: Mustangs run wild, Panthers show resolve and Pirates knock off defending state champ

MENDON, Ill. — Matt Woodworth found it easy to pinpoint what he enjoyed most about his head coaching debut.

“The aggression we played with,” the Unity-Payson football coach said.

The Mustangs made Woodworth’s first game memorable, holding North Greene to minus-33 yards rushing in a 58-0 whitewashing Friday night. The Mustangs outgained the Spartans 484-119 in total yards and allowed just 2.9 yards per play overall.

“Our defensive front seven were just lights out,” Woodworth said. “They didn’t know where to go passing-wise. Their quarterback was constantly on the run. The defense definitely set the tone.”

The offense rolled with it.

Unity finished with 403 yards rushing and averaged 17.5 yards per carry. Cecil Hunt gave the Mustangs the edge with a 93-yard touchdown run with 3:44 left in the first quarter and an 87-yard scoring jaunt a little more than three minutes later.

“He broke a couple tackles, got into the open field and outran everybody,” Woodworth said.

Bryan Dieker added a 90-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

“It’s got to be rare,” Woodworth said of having two 90-plus yard scoring runs in the same game. “I don’t remember coaching or playing in a game like that.”

Hunt finished with 204 yards and two touchdowns on just six carries, but he caught some good-natured ribbing during Saturday morning’s film session because he didn’t lead the Mustangs in yards per carry. Dieker had 123 yards and two touchdowns on just three carries.

“I told him whenever he was ready to take lessons to get better we’d get to it,” Woodworth said with a hearty laugh.

It’s easy to enjoy such an emphatic way to kickstart a season and a career.

“It gets the confidence up,” Woodworth said.

Panthers regroup and rally showing resolve

CAMP POINT, Ill. — In the second quarter of a scoreless game with the Central football team facing second and 9 from the Carrollton 10-yard line, the Panthers’ Dominic Williams got to the left edge and raced toward the sideline where he was pulled down awkwardly from behind.

The senior didn’t bounce back up.

A three-year starter at safety and one of the fastest players on the team, Williams had to be helped off the field with an apparent knee injury.

“We’re not sure how bad until Monday,” Central coach Brad Dixon said.

In the meantime, the Panthers shifted personnel and ended up getting huge plays from those who filled Williams’ roles. Sophomore safety Gavin Blewett forced a fourth-quarter fumble and junior running back Isaac Genenbacher scored on a 61-yard run on the next play to secure a 30-22 victory in the season opener.

“We had to make some adjustments and move some people around,” Dixon said. “Guys did what was necessary and really did a great job of just continuing to play.”

The Panthers trailed 22-8 before Aveory Lamanske scored on a 3-yard run with 8:15 to play in regulation and Genenbacher ran in the two-point conversion to make it a six-point game. Sophomore cornerback Nick Moore intercepted a pass on third and 11 on the next possession, and the Panthers turned it into a 13-yard TD run by Genenbacher to tie it at 22.

On Carrollton’s next possession, Blewett met Hawks quarterback Grant Pohlman on a keeper off the left end and popped the ball out and into the arms of a Central teammate. The next play was Genenbacher’s back-breaking touchdown.

Carrollton had one final chance, driving to the Central 8-yard line with 32 seconds remaining. On fourth and 2, the Panthers swallowed up the Hawks’ Harley Angel behind the line of scrimmage to force a turnover on downs and walk away with a victory.

“You like to play those types of games,” Dixon said. “I’m not sure you like to play them Week 1 because I don’t think anyone ever feels like they’re ready Week 1. But we end up on a good side. Even if it hadn’t ended up in our favor, our guys came back and I knew we were going to have some positive things to build on.

“To do that and get a win is icing on the cake. This is a nice springboard into some momentum.”

Pirates’ effort crucial to upending defending champs

HANNIBAL, Mo. — Jeff Gschwender was encouraged by the effort the Hannibal football players put into Friday night’s 54-20 victory defending Class 4 state champion Helias after the Pirates left Ray Hentges Stadium.

Watching the game film Saturday morning, he became more enamored with it.

“You saw the effort on the field, but then when you watch film, you see some of the effort away from the ball and getting to the ball and the blocks on the back side,” said Gschwender, Hannibal’s first-year head coach. “We were a lot a more physical than I expected.

“With their size, I thought we were going to have a hard running in the box and a hard time controlling them with the defensive line. Our kids did outstanding as far as making sure they do the right things and allowing our speed to run to the ball and our speed to make plays on offense. Those were really key factors.”

The offense made plenty of plays, starting with senior tailback A.J. Thomas pounding his way to 132 yards on 33 carries.

“He is a wrecking ball running through there,” Gschwender said.

It was needed to soften up the Crusaders.

“We had a really good ground game between the tackles,” Gschwender said. “We started seeing really good matchups then. As they started bringing safeties into the box, then you can start picking your shots on the big plays.”

Senior quarterback Courtland Watson took advantage of that. He completed 16 of 24 passes for 332 yards and four touchdowns, hitting Aneyas Williams for 44- and 10-yard scores while connecting with John Clubine and Kaiser Greenwell. Williams finished with 10 receptions for 188 yards.

“(Watson) was putting it on the money,” Gschwender said. “He made a couple of RPO checks that worked out really well for us. When we decided to take shots on the edges, he put it to where it was either going to be caught or it was going to be incomplete. He was making good decisions.”

Defensively, the Pirates held the Crusaders to minus-69 yards on 20 carries.

“They took the coaching and made the adjustments,” Gschwender said. “They made big, big plays.”

And they didn’t allow miscues to derail them.

“Handling adversity well was key and it’s just going to get better as the season goes,” Gschwender said.