In a game featuring plenty of offense, Friday’s Illinois 8-Man Football Association (I8FA) contest between Bushnell-Prairie City and Pawnee came down to defense.
The Spartans led 40-26 at halftime, but the Indians held the visitors to one score in the final 24 minutes. That allowed the host to rally for a 48-46 victory.
Pawnee improved to 8-1 in winning its senior night contest.
B-PC wrapped up the regular season with a 5-4 record. After a 4-1 start, the Spartans have dropped three of their last four games by a combined total of 14 points.
One week after setting several school records, running back Jonavan Harrell was back at it.
He rushed for 325 yards and five touchdowns in the opening half. That included two in the final 25 seconds that also saw Pawnee score.
“The conversation at halftime was I thought we were beating ourselves more than they were beating us,” said Pawnee coach Josh Talley. “And that’s not taking anything away from Bushnell. That’s one heck of a team. And that running back (Harrell), you give him four seconds in the half and he can take it the distance.”
A 66-yard kickoff return by Pawnee’s Jace Jankouksy gave the Indians the ball at the B-PC 11.
Hudson Wort’s twoyard score, followed by his point-after-touchdown kick, gave the Indians a 7-0 lead 53 seconds into the contest.
B-PC’s first drive covered 65 yards in six plays. A 51-yard run by Harrell on a fourth-and-three pushed the ball inside the Indian 10.
Harrell scored on a threeyard run two plays later and added the conversion run that gave the Spartans an 8-7 lead at the 8:32 mark.
Pawnee went to the air on its next possession.
Quarterback Ty Lederbrand and Jankouksy hooked up for a 49-yard pass play to move the ball inside the Spartan five.
B-PC’s defense held until fourth down when Wort scored from the one and added the PAT that made it 14-8 with 7:11 left in the period.
B-PC responded 89 seconds later with a 72-yard TD run by Harrell. He also added the conversion run to give the visitors a 16-14 lead.
On its next possession, Pawnee drove from its own 41 to the B-PC six. But on fourth-and-goal, Dylan King sacked Lederbrand for a sixyard loss, giving the Spartans the turnover on downs.
The B-PC offense then went on an 11-play, 88-yard drive capped by Harrell’s four-yard run with 6:45 remaining before halftime. He added the conversion run that upped the lead to 24-14.
“Our goal going into this was ball control and making sure we were controlling the clock the whole entire time,” said B-PC coach Jacob Schisler.
“We just wanted to keep that clock running,” he added. “We know that (Lederbrand) is one hell of a quarterback. If we could keep him off the field, that’s what we wanted.”
But an 18-yard kickoff return by Wort gave Pawnee possession at the Spartan 37. The Indians scored three plays later when Lederbrand and Gavin Greer connected for a 27-yard TD pass.
The conversion pass failed, leaving the visitors with a 24-20 lead.
The half concluded with three touchdowns in the final 25 seconds.
Starting from their own 43 on the next drive, the Spartans covered 57 yards in 13 plays. Harrell’s six-yard score with 25.6 seconds left, followed by King’s conversion run upped the B-PC to 32-20.
Recovering an on-sides kick attempt at its own 49, Pawnee went 51 yards in four plays.
Lederbrand was 4-for-4 passing on the drive, the final one a 19-yard strike to Jankouksy with 4.1 seconds to go that narrowed the deficit to 32-26.
The ensuing Indian kickoff went out of bounds, giving the Spartans the ball at their own 35.
On the next play, Harrell took the handoff and headed right before cutting back left, out-running the Pawnee defense for the 65-yard score as the halftime horn was sounding.
King added the PAT run that gave the Spartans their 14-point halftime lead.
But that momentum gained by B-PC quickly evaporated in the second half.
The Indians stopped the Spartans on downs to open the third quarter, taking over at the B-PC 40. Three plays later, Lederbrand and Lucas Seitz connected for a 23-yard score. Lederbrand added the conversion run that made the score 40-34 at the 8:17 mark of the third period.
“I thought the defense did a great job responding, coming out and getting a stop,” said Talley. “That’s what we talked about. It’s just one play at a time.”
B-PC recorded two first downs the next time it had the ball. But facing a fourth-and-four from the Pawnee 40, Keegan Gillette was stopped two yards short, giving the ball back to the Indians.
Pawnee then drove 60 yards in six plays with Lederbrand throwing his fourth touchdown pass of the night, this one 19 yards to Greer.
The PAT kick failed, leaving the contest deadlocked at 40-40 as the game entered the fourth quarter.
B-PC then went to the air as QB Thomas Anderson connected with Brylon Griffitts for a 34 yard connection that moved the ball into Indian territory.
But facing a fourth-andone at the Pawnee 35, the center/quarterback exchange ended up on the ground and the Spartans turned the ball over on downs once again with 8:54 remaining.
Six plays later, Wort scored his third touchdown of the night, this one on a 26-yard run to give Pawnee its first lead since the opening quarter.
He added the conversion run that gave the Indians a 48-40 lead with 6:14 to go.
The B-PC offense put together its lone scoring drive of the half, covering 71 yards in eight plays. Harrell had seven carries, including the 14-yard TD run.
But attempting to tie the contest, Greer and Luke Wangen stopped Harrell short of the end zone on the PAT run, allowing Pawnee to hang on to a 48-46 lead.
Then, needing one first down to ice the contest, a nine-yard run by Lederbrand on third-and-six allowed Pawnee to run out the clock.
“This team just has no quit in them,” said Talley of his squad. “That’s what you want to see right before the playoffs.”
“(Pawnee) came out in the second half fired up and they were ready to go,” said Schisler. “They threw the ball and we just came up short.”
B-PC also battled through the second half with a number of players leaving the field at times due to injury.
“We were running out of bullets for sure,” said Schisler. “We had three guys going down. Jonavan (Harrell) going out didn’t help anything. Keegan (Gillette) going down. It was just left and right, left and right.”
“It is what it is,” he added. “We have a next man up mentality and the guys that came in played great.”
B-PC had 535 yards of total offense. Harrell finished with 37 carries for 438 yards and six touchdowns.
Anderson was 1-of-2 passing for 35 yards with Griffitts the reception.
Griffitts and Zaedin Hart recorded six tackles each, followed by King with five. Landon Lear, Gillette and Hunter Thompson chipped in four apiece.
Lederbrand finished 11-of-18 for 205 yards passing and four TDs. He also added 51 yards rushing on 10 carries.
“He’s a great athlete and a smart kid,” said Talley of Lederbrand. “He makes plays with his arms and makes plays with his legs.”
Wort had 111 yards and three TDs on 18 carries. The Indians finished with 159 yards rushing on 30 carries.
Seiz had four grabs for 42 yards and a score, while Jankouksy added three catches for 88 yards and a TD. Greer had two TD catches for a combined 46 yards.
The I8FA playoff pairings were announced Saturday evening.
B-PC, the No. 15 seed will play at No. 2 seed West Central on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. in Biggsville.
Meanwhile, Pawnee, the No. 5 seed, will No. 12 seed Edwardsville Metro East Lutheran on Oct. 31 at 6 p.m.
BPC Griffitts tackles Lederbrand
