Week 2 Recap: Galesburg Wins, and the Best Team in the Area Plays Eight-Man
Galesburg has won a football game.
The Silver Streaks beat Limestone 47-13 on Friday for their first win of the season and the most points they have scored in years — six days after we published a piece about a program that has had two winning seasons in twenty-five years.
They were not alone. Knoxville got its first win too. West Central is 2-0 and now holds the best record in the area. And the two teams that opened the season with blowout victories both lost.
Player of the Week: Kellen Boone, United
146 rushing yards on 14 carries. 182 passing yards on seven completions. Three touchdowns.
Two weeks, two enormous nights, two losses. Boone threw for 369 yards in the opener and followed it with a 328-total-yard performance that had United leading Illini West 18-8 early in the third quarter.
Then the Chargers scored 30 unanswered.
Boone opened the scoring with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Ryker Trego. Cohen Sperry added 82 rushing yards. Colin Leary caught a 51-yarder, Wyatt Stockdale a 45.
United is 0-2. It is also, on the evidence of two weeks, nothing like the team that won one game last season.
Game by game
Galesburg 47, Limestone 13
The number to sit with: 47 points. Galesburg scored 166 points across nine games last season — an average of 18 a night. They scored 47 on Friday.
It came against an opponent that went 0-9 last year, and the schedule turns hard from here. But this is the game Shawn Hickey needed, in the stadium where his team went 0-4 last season, in the week his 80-player summer got written about.
Galesburg is 1-1 and opens Western Big 6 play at United Township on September 4 — at 4:30 in the afternoon.
West Central 48, Blue Ridge/DeLand-Weldon 20
The Heat are 2-0 and are now the best team in this coverage area by record.
Forty-eight points on the road, a week after finishing a storm-suspended opener 32-12. Jason Kirby’s team has scored 80 points in two games and has not trailed in either.
Eight-man football gets a fraction of the attention the eleven-man programs get around here. Right now it is producing the best football in the area.
Knoxville 23, Rushville-Industry 18
Marty Turner has his first win as Knoxville’s head coach, and it was a close one — five points against a team that went 7-3 last season.
After a 42-14 loss at Macomb to open, this is the response the Blue Bullets needed. They are 1-1 and host Hamilton/Warsaw next.
Annawan-Wethersfield 22, Abingdon-Avon 14
A-Town’s first loss, and a defensible one. Annawan-Wethersfield went 11-1 last season and reached the state semifinals; the Tornadoes lost by eight on the road.
They beat a playoff team by 29 in Week 1 and lost to a semifinalist by eight in Week 2. That is a competitive football team. A-Town is 1-1.
Elmwood/Brimfield 22, ROWVA/Williamsfield 8
The correction to Week 1. The Cougars scored 54 against a winless team; against a program with a returning backfield and a coach in his 28th season, they scored eight.
Both things are true and the answer is somewhere between them. ROWVA/Williamsfield is 1-1 and hosts a 2-0 Illini West team next week.
Illini West 38, United 24
See above. United led 18-8 in the third quarter and lost by fourteen.
The pattern through two weeks is unmistakable: this offense can play with anyone, and this defense cannot get a stop when the game turns. United has now allowed 74 points in two games.
Rockridge 56, Monmouth-Roseville 8
The hardest night of the season so far for the area’s best program of a year ago.
Cullen Schwigen accounted for six touchdowns and passed 100 for his career. Thomas Sowards ran for 211 yards on 21 carries. Monmouth-Roseville finished with 62 total yards of offense.
The Titans’ only points came on Zane Mason’s 80-yard kickoff return and a Kane Johnson two-point conversion. Landon Montroy led the rushing with 40 yards.
Monmouth-Roseville went 10-2 last season and reached the Class 3A quarterfinals. They are 0-2, and the defensive rebuild Jeremy Adolphson flagged in July is now the story of their season.
Three things we learned
- The eight-man team is the best team here. West Central is 2-0 with 80 points scored. No eleven-man program in the area has looked as convincing.
- Week 1 lied about almost everyone. Both blowout winners lost. Both winless teams from Week 1 won. Two weeks is not much, but it is twice as much as one.
- United has the best player and the worst defense. Boone has 697 passing yards in two games. United has allowed 74 points. Those facts are going to keep colliding.
Where everyone stands
| Team | Record | Week 3 (Sept 4) |
|---|---|---|
| West Central | 2-0 | Galva (H) |
| Galesburg | 1-1 | at United Township, 4:30 |
| Knoxville | 1-1 | Hamilton/Warsaw (H) |
| Abingdon-Avon | 1-1 | at Bureau Valley |
| ROWVA/Williamsfield | 1-1 | at Illini West |
| Monmouth-Roseville | 0-2 | at Mercer County |
| United | 0-2 | Stark County (H) |
Next Friday
Conference season. Galesburg opens Western Big 6 play at United Township — who just won 69-6 — at 4:30 in the afternoon, not 7:00. Full Week 3 preview →
Scores confirmed against WRMJ, WMOI, Shaw Local, Sports Illustrated, FOX and MaxPreps. Stat lines for the Monmouth-Roseville and United games via WMOI. Five of the seven games had no published individual statistics — if you have a box score, send it in and we will add it.
