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By Greg Halbleib
A shootout in Peoria and a battle between the teams tied for second in the Big Twelve Conference highlighted Week 8 high school football on Friday night.
Normal West 35, Champaign Central 20
Davion McQuirter rushed for three touchdowns and the Normal West Wildcats took advantage of Champaign Central mistakes to defeat the Maroons 35-20 and take sole possession of second place of the Big Twelve Conference.
McQuirter tallied 159 yards on 27 carries and had touchdown runs of 4, 1 and 11 yards, with the final score sealing the victory with 1:42 remaining. Carson Camp added a 42-yard scamper for a touchdown and also threw a 36-yard bullet to Cole Hernandez to account for all of the Wildcats’ scoring in the game.
The Wildcat defense was tested by the Wing-T offense of Central, and although they gave up approximately 270 yards rushing, only 80 yards came in the second half.
Central (5-3, 5-2) just needs a victory over winless Peoria Manual next week to clinch a playoff spot. Normal West (7-1, 6-1) finish at winless Urbana next Friday.
Bloomington 51, Peoria 40
Peoria (4-4, 4-3 Big Twelve) jumped out to a 20-0 lead before Drew Crooks returned a kickoff 70 yards for a touchdown to put Bloomington (6-2, 5-2) within 20-7 at the end of one quarter. The Purple Raiders then scored four touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 35-34 lead at halftime.
Bloomington grabbed a 43-34 lead with the third touchdown pass of the night by Griffin Moore, but Deivion Allen punched into the end zone for Peoria with 4:53 left in the game to slice the Purple Raiders’ lead to 43-40. A punt pinned the Lions on their own 1-yard line, but an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone gave Bloomington a safety and the onside kick was returned to the end zone by Jante Hatfield to seal the Bloomington win.
Normal Community 35, Champaign Centennial 7
The Ironmen’s hold on first place in the Big Twelve grew a little tighter with the wire-to-wire win. Jake Hileman recorded 204 yards rushing on 22 carries for Normal Community (7-1, 7-0). Centennial was held to 116 yards in total offense and fell to 2-6 overall and 2-5 in conference play.
Illinois Valley Central 41, Central Catholic 10
The visiting Grey Ghosts (4-4) running game recorded 368 yards and all six touchdowns. Central Catholic (0-8) was led by 160 yards passing by Conner Boerm with 130 of the yards to Liam Brady on seven catches.
Springfield 42, U-High 0
The visiting Senators (5-3) were led by 226 yards on the ground from Justin Bivens on 17 carries while freshman quarterback Rashad Rochelle was 7-of-14 passing for 159 yards and four touchdowns with one interception. U-High (1-7) managed only 10 offensive plays in the second half.
WEEK 8 SCORES:
Big Twelve:
Normal West 35, Champaign Central 20
Bloomington 51, Peoria 40
Normal Community 35, Champaign Centennial 7
Danville 38, Peoria Richwoods 12
Illini Prairie:
Illinois Valley Central 41, Central Catholic 10
Monticello 49, Prairie Central 20
Pontiac 40, St. Thomas More 0
St. Joseph-Ogden 28, Olympia 7
Tolono Unity 22, Rantoul 14
Central State Eight:
Springfield 42, U-High 0
Chatham Glenwood 66, Springfield Southeast 28
Sacred Heart-Griffin 48, Jacksonville 6
Rochester 41, Springfield Lanphier 12
Decatur Eisenhower vs. Decatur MacArthur, Sat. 12 p.m. at Millikin University
Heart of Illinois Large:
Tri-Valley 13, Deer Creek-Mackinaw 6
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 63, El Paso-Gridley 6
Eureka 24, Fieldcrest 14
Heart of Illinois Small:
Fisher 41, Ridgeview-Lexington 14
LeRoy 28, Heyworth 7
Tremont 41, Flanagan-Cornell-Woodland 0
Apollo:
Mahomet-Seymour 14, Lincoln 0
Central Illinois:
Clinton 35, Okaw Valley 0
Non-Conference:
Dwight 51, Hoopeston Area 0
Blue Ridge 42, South Newton, Ind. 12
SATURDAY’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL BROADCASTS:
Southern Illinois at Illinois State, 1 p.m. (WJBC-AM 1230, 93.7 Nash Icon, WJBC.com)
Elmhurst at Illinois Wesleyan, 12:45 p.m. (WJBC.com–CLICK HERE TO LISTEN LIVE)
Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].