Eastland-Pearl City can’t keep up with Forreston BY CODY CUTTER
ccutter@saukvalley.com LANARK – While the Eastland-Pearl City Wildcatz and Forreston Cardinals played the “3 yards and a cloud of dust” kind of running game Friday, it was the runs that didn’t fit that definition that wound up being the most important. The Cardinals scored twice in the first half on plays of more than 35 yards after finding holes in the middle of the line and held on to win 34-13 in a Northwest Upstate Illini Conference game at Eastland High School. After a one-score halftime lead, Forreston (2-1, 2-1 NUIC) poured it on in the second half with three more touchdowns to keep the Wildcatz winless. The Cardinals are glad to be back on the winning side after a tough loss to Durand-Pecatonica last week. “We just came in here guns blazing,” Cardinals senior running back Jacob Fiorello said. “We were really hyped up coming back from a loss like that to just get that win. We came out strong, we really just wanted to run all over the place, and get it done.” The Wildcatz’s first drive lasted
Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media
Forreston’s Jacob Fiorello finds a gap as Eastland-Pearl City’s Christian Fischer reacts. about 9 minutes, but fell 4 yards short of the goal line after a fourth-down pass failed. The Cardinals took over and ran five quick run plays for short yardage before the next resulted in a fumble that Riley Schauer scooped up and hauled 38 yards for a score to give
CUSTOM CABINETS FOR YOUR HOME BUILT LOCALLY BY:
SM-ST1915435
Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com • Friday, Sep 17, 2021
OGLE COUNTY NEWS
12 SPORTS
EPC a 7-0 lead. After three plays in Forreston’s next drive, McKeon Crase found a hole in the middle and marched 45 yards to put his team on the board, but the 2-point try that followed failed, as the Wildcatz still led 7-6.
The next drive for the Wildcatz resulted in a punt, and the Cardinals put together a series of short-run plays that ended when Fiorello found the end zone on a 38-yard run through the middle; Forreston led 14-7 after the 2-point try was good. The score held up at halftime, as an EPC pass fell incomplete in the end zone with 3.6 seconds in the half. “It’s never good when you start off with a fumble,” Fiorello said. “It hurts the team, but we faced the [issue] and we came back.” Forreston limited the Wildcatz to only 94 yards on running plays and 57 in the air for the game, including just 93 yards in the first half, while Fiorello and Crase combined for 153 first-half yards. The Cards’ duo each eclipsed the century mark in total yards, Fiorello finishing with 115 yards on 17 carries and Crase with 105 yards on 13 rushes. The Cardinals opened the second half with another TD drive on a quarterback keeper from Logan Dyson to go up 22-7, then recovered the resulting onside kick at their own 49. After
See FORRESTON WINS, Page 13
JUSTICE FOR MEGAN
ALWAYS LOVED! NEVER FORGOTTEN! FOREVER MISSED!
MEGAN (SWAZIEK) WELLS
Handcrafted to last a lifetime.
PRECIOUS LIFE TAKEN ON 6/24/2016 IN A BOATING CRASH ON THE ROCK RIVER NEAR OREGON, IL
KITCHEN, BATH, LAUNDRY, OFFICE & MORE!
IT IS TIME TO REVEAL THE TRUTH SO MEGAN CAN TRULY “REST IN PEACE” WHAT WAS DONE IN THE DARK WILL BE BROUGHT INTO THE LIGHT!
VISIT OUR SHOWROOM 2477 E. IL RT. 64, OREGON 815-973-9951
Eric Zimmerman, Owner
Megan’s Favorite Song
SM-ST1918271
JOURNEY - DON’T STOP BELIEVING
