Byquist, Blue Devils grind out victory over Maple Leafs to continue chasing playoffs

QUINCY — During Rick Little’s tenure as Quincy High School football coach, the Blue Devils have been known as a pretty tough team to beat at Flinn Stadium.

This fall, winning at Flinn has been anything but easy for the Blue Devils. On Friday night, the Blue Devils finally found the right combination, mixing heavy doses of Adon Byquist with timely stops on defense to come away with a 23-22 victory over Western Big 6 Conference foe Geneseo.

“We used to be a team that struggled on the road and won all the time at home,” Little said after watching his team improve to 3-4 overall and 2-3 in WB6 play. “For different reasons, we’ve struggled here at home. To get one here is big.”

The victory helped the Blue Devils keep their hopes of qualifying for the playoffs alive. QHS needs to win the rest of the games on its schedule. That quest started with Friday’s game against a Geneseo team that was tied with QHS in the WB6 standings.

Byquist, the Blue Devils’ sophomore quarterback, led the way. He finished with a career-high 209 rushing yards, scoring three touchdowns in the process. He had two first-half scoring runs. The first was a 9-yarder early in the second quarter where he zipped through the Geneseo defense and dragged would-be tacklers into the end zone with him. Later in the quarter, he raced up the middle of the Geneseo defense for a 36-yard scoring scamper.

“We’ve really struggled to run the football and we’ve made it a point of emphasis,” Little said. “We have to be able to run the ball in order to close games and take pressure off of our passing game. We saw some things on film that we thought would be in our favor tonight.”

Down 16-0 at the halftime break, Geneseo (3-4, 1-4 WB6) didn’t go down easily. The Maple Leafs cut the lead in half on their first drive of the second half. However, Quincy answered quickly as Byquist zipped past the Geneseo defense for a 55-yard touchdown run to thwart any momentum the Maple Leafs had gathered from their score.

“They were feeling pretty good about themselves and made it look pretty easy on that (scoring) drive,” Little said. “To answer right back was huge.”

Geneseo eventually pulled within a point of the Blue Devils when Jaden Weinzierl scored on a 34-yard touchdown reception with less than five minutes to play. As it had done all night, the Maple Leafs decided to go for two points in an attempt to take the lead.

The Blue Devils’ defense snuffed out a two-point throwing attempt as junior Sawyer Mulherin hit Geneseo quarterback A.J. Weller as he threw the ball. Gregory Quince intercepted the pass to help the Blue Devils keep a 23-22 lead.

The Blue Devils drove deep into Geneseo territory on their next possession, but turned it over on downs at the Maple Leafs’ 5-yard line with just under three minutes to play. The QHS defense stood tall. Geneseo picked up one first down, but didn’t go any further. Max Wires had the big play for the Blue Devils on their final stand, throwing Weller for a 10-yard loss on a sack.

Quincy, which has struggled to run the ball most of the season, finished with 275 yards on the ground. Shammy Gay added 59 rushing yards. 

“We have to win every game,” Byquist said. “We have to stay together as a team and work hard.”

The Blue Devils will try to make it two in a row at home next week when Alleman (0-7, 0-5 WB6) visits. The Pioneers suffered a 49-7 loss to United Township on Friday.