Peotone holds off Eastland-Pearl City for 2A playoff victory

Peotone left the door open for Eastland-Pearl City , but the Wildcatz couldn’t push their way through as the Blue Devils held on for a 21-16 victory Saturday in their Class 2A second-round playoff game in Lanark. Peotone (9-2) scored the first two times it had the ball, but didn’t put away the win until a fourth-down pass fell incomplete for EPC (6-6) with 9 seconds left. “I firmly believe it was a who-wanted-it-more type of game,” Peotone’s Eli Chenoweth said. “Both teams played as aggressive as we could, and they’re a good team, but we were able to dig deep. I felt like we locked in and were all there 100% in the fourth quarter.” Peotone advances to the quarterfinals for the first time in program history, and will visit fellow Illinois Central Eight Conference member Wilmington next weekend looking to avenge a 48-8 regular-season loss. Trailing 15-8 late in the third quarter, EPC forced a fumble and recovered it at the Peotone 35-yard line. Six plays later, Clayton Downs scored from 4 yards out to cut the deficit to 15-14, but the two-point run was stopped. The Blue Devils then drove 60 yards in six plays to extend the lead to 21-14 on Declan McMaster’s 12-yard touchdown run; the two-point conversion run failed. “That was really big momentum for us,” Chenoweth said. “In a low-scoring, defensive game, holding onto the ball and being able to score those touchdowns when you have the chance was really important.” Peotone got a three-and-out and drove inside the 10-yard line, but had to settle for a 28-yard field-goal attempt. But EPC blocked the kick, and the Wildcatz still had life. “It’s been that way all year. This is the fifth game now we’ve lost by a touchdown, and these kids are resilient. They keep fighting back, and we talk about it all the time as a program: we don’t want to flinch, we don’t want to run away when bad things happen,” EPC coach Jared McNutt said. “Our kids just keep their heads up and battle. I thought we put ourselves in position to be successful. “Either one of these teams could’ve won this game, and we were giving each other chances to win, for sure.” EPC drove to midfield, but McMaster intercepted a fourth-down pass. The Wildcatz forced a punt, and the snap went over the Peotone punter’s head, but he scooped it up and ran out the back of the end zone for a safety with 35 seconds remaining. Facing a five-point deficit, the Wildcatz were forced out of their comfort zone and had to throw the ball with so little time left. Four incomplete passes later, Petone took over and knelt out the final 9 seconds. “We just had to play Prevent [defense], play back and not let them get behind us. We all knew our role, knew our coverage zone, and kept it in front of us,” Peotone’s Nick Cronin said. “We just had to read our keys and fly to the ball. I feel like we really stayed disciplined and pulled through all game to keep our momentum going.” Chenoweth scored short touchdown runs on the first two series for Peotone. The first came after an EPC fumble at midfield in the opening drive of the game, then the second came after the Wildcatz took an 8-7 lead on a 15-yard touchdown run by Downs. EPC then drove just outside the 10-yard line, but turned it over on downs with 1:14 left in the half. On consecutive plays, Peotone lost a fumble, then EPC threw an interception before the Blue Devils took a knee to run out the half. Cronin ran 20 times for 154 yards, and Chenoweth had 92 yards on 12 carries. McMaster added 31 yards as Peotone gained all 285 yards on the ground and did not attempt a pass. “I need to give a shout-out to our O-line, because they really put the work in, especially on the down blocks,” Cronin said. “They were creating holes all game.” “They grind it out. It’s like 5 yards, 5 yards, 3 yards, they keep chunking us, and that’s tough to come back from,” McNutt said. “That’s why I tip the cap to our kids for responding, and then being able to respond with that blocked field goal and stopping the two-point conversion – because they could’ve sealed the game with both. Little things like that, I thought our guys did really well.” Sawyer Williams ran for 75 yards on 21 carries, and Downs added 14 rushes for 61 yards for EPC. Brycen Voegeli ran for 36 yards and threw for 47 in place of starting QB Deaken Hofmaster, who suffered a leg injury in the first quarter against Riverdale last week. “Credit to them, they were had-nosed up front, and we knew that was going to be a problem coming into the game,” McNutt said. “I thought we responded well at times, then there were times where we just didn’t have it. “This year we had the team that kept getting better game after game, and this game too. We won two playoff games, and we capitalized on a lot of our opportunities this season.”