Schelp, Smith team up to create tide-turning fumble as Blue Devils seize momentum

QUINCY — As Ben Schelp sized up the situation, he realized every Moline offensive lineman was preoccupied.

“They were taking all of our defensive linemen, which left me free off the edge,” said Schelp, the Quincy High School junior linebacker. “It gave me a really easy shot at him.”

That’s the last thing Moline quarterback Elijah Taylor wanted.

Coming off the edge on Taylor’s blindside, Schelp drilled Taylor for a sack, punching the ball loose in the process and forcing a turnover that completely turned the tide in the Blue Devils’ 44-14 victory Friday night in the second round of the Class 7A playoffs at Flinn Stadium.

“It shifted the momentum,” Schelp said. “It killed them. We scored off it. We capitalized off it. We took control there.”

QHS defensive lineman Kolton Smith recovered the fumble at the Moline 29-yard line with just 37.7 seconds remaining in the first half — it was his first career fumble recovery — to set up the final scoring drive of the half that gave the Blue Devils a 28-7 lead.

“I saw Ben punch the ball out and the ball on the ground,” Smith said. “I just jumped on top of it as fast as I could.”

It sent a surge through everyone.

“It was electric,” QHS left guard Keegan Wheeler said. “It was really electric.”

Scoring off the turnover amped it up.

QHS quarterback Bradyn Little tried to scramble for a touchdown on third and goal, but he was knocked down short of the goal line and had the ball pop away in the process. Tykell Hammers recovered at the 1-yard line for the Blue Devils, but without a timeout and the clock ticking, they had to scramble to the line.

Little couldn’t stop the clock with an incomplete pass, so he took the snap and dove forward into what became a scrum. The pile was pushed into the end zone, giving him a 1-yard scoring run with no time left on the clock.

It capped a furious stretch in which the Blue Devils scored three touchdowns in the final 4:37 of the first half.

“That changed the game for us,” Little said.