After an opening night 72-24 loss at Polo, the Bushnell- Prairie City football team has been on a tear.
The Spartans continued to roll last Friday night with a resounding 50-6 road victory over West Prairie/ Southeastern in an Illinois 8-Man Football Association Central West matchup.
With the win, B-PC reclaimed the Iron Spike Trophy while improving to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the I8FA Central West.
Since the season-opening loss, B-PC has outscored its opponents 182-26 and running back Jonavan Harrell has been the spark plug for the Spartans’ offense.
One week after rushing for 310 yards and five touchdowns in a 58-0 win over Peoria Heights, the speedy senior rushed for 304 yards on 16 carries against the Cyclones and scored four touchdowns - all in the first half.
“He’s very good,” said B-PC head coach Jacob Schisler referring to Harrell. “But I’ve got to give credit all the way around. The entire offensive line, our fullback, our tight ends, the entire offense just work as one big unit and they’re getting better and better each week.”
“Harrell is probably one of the best running backs in eight-man football,” said WP/SE head coach Mark Benson. “He really is fast. He’s very good so we knew we were going to have our work cut out for us.”
B-PC would score on all four of its possessions in the first quarter to take a commanding 38-0 lead.
On their opening drive, the Spartans started at their own 36 and needed only seven plays to reach the end zone as quarterback Thomas Anderson capped the drive with a one-yard plunge at the 8:47 mark. Dylan King ran in the two-point conversion to give B-PC an 8-0 lead.
After stopping WP/SE on downs near midfield, the Spartans needed only one play as Harrell broke free on a 53-yard touchdown run with 6:56 left in the period. The two-point conversion failed leaving the score at 14-0.
The Cyclones’ offense went three-and-out on their next drive and were forced to punt as B-PC took over at its own 45.
An eight-yard run by King put the ball into WP/ SE territory at the 46 where Harrell broke loose again and scampered into the endzone for a 46-yard touchdown with 5:07 remaining in the first quarter. Harrell also ran in the two-point conversion to put the Spartans up 22-0.
WP/SE turned the ball over on downs on its next series and B-PC capitalized quickly as King found an opening on the left side and scored on a 52-yard scoring jaunt with 3:44 remaining in the opening quarter. Harrell ran in the two-point conversion once again to give the Spartans a 30-0 lead.
The Cyclones would give the ball right back after a fumbled snap on the first play on their ensuing drive was recovered by Zaedin Hart to give B-PC the ball at the WP/SE 23.
Harrell would cap the drive with his third touchdown of the opening period - this one coming from 10 yards out with only 1:48 left in the quarter. Anderson hit Braylon Griffits with the pass completion for the twopoint conversion to make it 38-0.
The Spartans would increase their advantage early in the second quarter when Harrell sprinted in for a 36-yard touchdown run with 11:09 left in the half. The two-point conversion failed but B-PC had a commanding 44-0 lead.
WP/SE finally put together its first sustained drive that went to the B-PC 17 before a Hayden Wilcox pass was intercepted by Hunter Thompson to stop the scoring threat.
The Spartans would march downfield in six plays and Anderson finished the drive with a two-yard touchdown run with only 44 seconds left before halftime. WP/SE stopped the twopoint conversion run to make it a 50-0 score at the break.
Despite the opening half performance by his squad, Benson tried to remain optimistic.
“I have high hopes for our guys and we work really hard at little things,” said the Cyclones’ first-year head coach. “But, we know we need to get better at blocking and we need to get better at tackling and, of course, when we don’t make tackles against very good athletes, that’s going to be a problem.”
“I was proud of the way our boys responded after halftime,” Benson continued. “We just have to keep getting better.”
The continuous clock rule was in effect in the second half, but WP/SE put together its best drive of the game to start the third quarter.
The Cyclones marched 54 yards in 10 plays and Wilcox put the hosts on the scoreboard with a four-yard touchdown run at the 2:46 mark. B-PC would stop the two-point conversion attempt to make it 50-6.
Both teams would trade possessions in the fourth quarter but the score would stand as WP/SE fell to 0-4 for the season and 0-2 in the I8FA Central West.
King added 79 yards rushing on six carries with one touchdown for B-PC.
Defensively, Patrick Raines and Zaedin Hart topped the Spartans with 10 and nine total tackles respectively. Harrell added seven total tackles, followed by Andre Watts and Landon Lear with six each.
Photos by Andrea Ratermann
Bryson Tanner led WP/ SE with 48 yards rushing on eleven carries and one touchdown.
After seeing his team finish 1-8 last season and losing the Iron Spike to the Cyclones at home, winning three in a row and reclaiming the trophy has Schisler pleased with his team’s overall performance to start this season “It seems like it’s been back-and-forth every single year since we started doing this,” said Schisler. “We’ve got it back and now, hopefully, we can hold on to it for a while.”
Since the series began in 2021, the team have split their six meetings.
As his team approaches the halfway mark in the season and already with three victories, Schisler realizes his squad is closing in on one of their goals qualifying for the playoffs.
“That’s our goal every single year,” said Schisler. “I tell these guys our goal is to get six wins. That gets you into the playoffs and sometimes, home-field advantage. So, we’re striving to make the playoffs this year and, hopefully, continue to build and do that on a yearly basis.”
B-PC will head back out on the road again Friday night when the Spartans will travel to Galva (1-3, 0-2) to take on the Wildcats in another I8FA Central West contest.
It will be Homecoming week for the Wildcats.
Meanwhile, WP/SE will continue to look for its first victory of the season as the Cyclones will host Central West foe Peoria Heights (0-4, 0-2) in Colchester.
Top left photo: Hayden Wilcox handing off to Bryson Tanner. Top right photo: Jeffery Pollock pursuing Hayden Wilcox. Bottom photo: Thomas Anderson passes to Jonavan Harrell. Photos by Andrea Ratermann
