LEROY — Friday night time was imagined to occur. For each the LeRoy and Gibson Metropolis-Melvin-Sibley soccer groups.
A few undefeated groups that had, for essentially the most half, made it via the primary seven weeks of the season sat facet by facet on the prime of the Coronary heart of Central Illinois Convention small faculty standings.
Win or lose, they wanted that sport simply two weeks earlier than the playoffs.
“We have been wanting ahead to this as a result of we knew this was the kind of group we have been going to see within the postseason,” LeRoy coach BJ Zeleznik mentioned. “It was a sport we needed to play and a sport we needed to be shut at half-time and we needed to show we may draw back.”
And that's precisely what occurred. The Panthers went into halftime with a 14-6 lead and completed the night time 34-13 winners.
“Implausible expertise down the stretch,” LeRoy senior quarterback/linebacker Bo Zeleznik mentioned. “The very last thing you need is a detailed playoff sport within the fourth quarter and also you don't know learn how to play. It's implausible to get that have in opposition to a extremely, actually good group.”
GCMS (7-1) coach Chad Augspurger had an analogous sentiment, including that it's not a foul factor to be in a grind-it-out sport so near the postseason. It’d even have been a great factor to have a wake-up name.
“This group has to study to cope with adversity,” Augspurger mentioned. “We haven't been examined a lot since Week 1. We've had some ups and downs, however we've managed virtually each sport. It's an amazing expertise to have two weeks earlier than the play-offs, going through adversity in these conditions. We'll take it, study from it and be higher for it.”
The Panthers (Eight-Zero) went about their enterprise the identical means they’ve for what looks like perpetually: operating the soccer. LeRoy had 49 offensive performs coming into Friday, and 48 of them have been runs. Zeleznik had 131 yards and a landing on 16 carries, Stephon Williams had 92 yards and a landing on 17 carries, Kobe Brent rushed 9 occasions for 59 yards and a rating and Sam Wagner was one for 78 meters to the top zone.
“Our guys up entrance are working their tails off. On daily basis, each sport, they go arduous,” Bo Zeleznik mentioned. “To get that feeling that we simply must make them proud, we execute. It's a extremely good bond that we've created.”
That's been the Panthers' MO all season and nobody has been in a position to cease him. Opposing groups know they're going to run the ball, however the well-oiled machine LeRoy has created appears inevitable each week.
“A part of it’s the consistency of protecting it easy and working towards it each day in order that there's absolute confidence in what you're doing,” mentioned BJ Zeleznik. “We’ve got the horses in entrance this 12 months and we’ve choices within the again. We’ve got depth. … We’re a bodily soccer group. Now, it turns into a matter of will. That is what we do. Can we preserve slamming it and sooner or later they may break? And might we break a pair, get a turnover and hastily flip it into a 3 landing sport? We have been in a position to do it once more and we did all of it 12 months.”
And you may't overlook the one-pass play late within the third quarter. The Panthers punted and Zeleznik threw it to Brent, who had no defenders inside 10 yards of him, as he entered the top zone for a 33-yard rating.
LeRoy is nice for one move per sport, and more often than not it really works as a result of defenses are so caught up in making an attempt to cease the speeding assault.
“It's superior,” Bo Zeleznik mentioned with an enormous smile connecting on these uncommon passes. “It's such a satisfying feeling, particularly when it's vast open as a result of you already know you're doing all your job with the operating sport. Everybody clicks and everybody matches as a result of they do not know. You realize you're taking part in nicely when that may occur.”
Nevertheless, this sport was far more aggressive than the ultimate rating indicated. It was a 7-6 ballgame within the first quarter after GCMS quarterback Brayden Elliott linked with Trent Wetherell for a 49-yard landing.
It didn't assist the Falcons that Matt Allen, their finest lineman, got here down with pneumonia and operating again Jacob Chase, “the point of interest of our offense,” went down within the first quarter with an damage. However even with 28 factors within the fourth quarter, it nonetheless didn't seem like the sport was over. Elliott discovered Ryker Grauer for a 12-yard landing to drag the Falcons nearer, and so they had a number of extra probabilities after that, however LeRoy's offense continued to eat chunks of the clock each time they obtained the ball.
“I noticed a group that fights to the top. There isn’t a stop in them,” Augspurger mentioned. “They gave us some fairly robust fingers, however the children stored combating and nonetheless discovered methods to maneuver the ball and make performs. It's all about discovering the positives. Take the negatives and discover methods to repair them. After we consider sport movie, we discuss concerning the execs and don't even use the phrase “cons.” We speak about what we will enhance.”
The Panthers made a press release placing in such performances in opposition to a group nearly as good as GCMS. That's the form of group they'll see within the playoffs — an skilled quarterback, a dynamic operating again, an enormous line and a ton of athletes — and so they've proven they're prepared for video games with a little bit extra on the road. BJ Zeleznik mentioned he believes his group is without doubt one of the strongest mentally within the state and that would be the calling card.
“Mentally, we're extraordinarily robust,” Bo Zeleznik mentioned. “You punch them till they break or you may't punch anymore. When you’ve gotten a bunch that has that frequent mindset, it makes for a reasonably good group. I really like taking part in with these guys.”
And to go undefeated for eight weeks, particularly throughout this system's 125th 12 months, the entire metropolis seems like one thing particular is in retailer this fall.
“It's fairly wonderful,” BJ Zeleznik mentioned. “I'm completely happy for the neighborhood. Discuss getting excited. Our youngsters completely deserve it. The work that this senior class has put in, it's good to see all of it come collectively. Generations return. Seeing guys from the 70s right here and seeing relations of former coaches from again within the day. All of the completely different items that got here collectively for this 12 months have been fairly particular.”