Normal Community hands Peoria Notre Dame first loss

Posted on October 17, 2015

By Greg Halbleib

Normal Community broke open a close game with an explosive final quarter to hand Peoria Notre Dame its first loss of the high school football season with a 42-21 victory on Saturday afternoon at Peoria Stadium.

The Ironmen took an early lead on the second play of the game after recovering an Irish fumble on an attempted lateral during the opening kickoff deep in Notre Dame territory, but the game was tied 7-7 after one period when the Irish scored on the next possession.

Alec Bozarth scored the first of his two touchdowns with the second quarter’s only score to give the Ironmen a 14-7 lead at halftime. Quarterback Grant Price’s run in the third quarter extended the Normal Community lead, but Alex Shaw broke a 65-yard run with just under four minutes remaining in the period to cut the Ironmen lead to 20-14.

Normal Community broke the game open with a 38-yard strike from Price to Christian Wey with one minute gone in the fourth quarter, followed by an 18-yard Price touchdown, a safety and Bozarth’s second score for a 42-14 lead. Irish quarterback Patrick Dillon registered a 3-yard touchdown run with 4:29 remaining for the final score.

Both teams are now 7-1 as Normal Community hosts Rich Central and Peoria Notre Dame faces Peoria (7-1) on Friday in the regular season finales.

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