The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The host Carthage Blueboys, ranked number one in Illinois Class 2-A Football, overwhelmed the visiting West Prairie - LaHarpe Cyclones 53-8 last Friday night.
The Cyclones were no match for the Blueboys talent-wise and further hurt themselves with three big special teams' mistakes in the first half.
This shortened the field for the Blueboys' offense and led to a 30-point second quarter onslaught.
The Cyclones did top the 200 yard mark offensively, the first team to do that against the Blueboys this season.
WP-LH gained 213 yards on 50 rushing attempts and another 20 yards on one pass completion.
Eric Swank topped the Cyclones with 70 yards rushing on 15 attempts. Quarterback Kevin Mershon returned from a two game injury lay off to add 48 yards rushing and a 20-yard touchdown pass to Swank.
Sophomore running back Joel DeCounter added 37 yards on 9 first half rushing attempts, prior to missing the 2nd half with an injury.
Sophomore fullback Matt Woolam picked up 26 yards, while classmate Brian Butterfield added 23.
Defensively, the Cyclones gave up 261 yards to Carthage. This is a misleading total due to the Blueboys playing on a short field all night. Carthage averaged over 10 yards per carry and did not punt in the game.
Those Cyclones whose names made the tackle chart included Jason Poulter, Alex Rodeffer, Kevin Penrod, Brian Butterfield, Matt Woolam, Eric Swank, Ryan Mullenix, Kylen Carpenter, John Bruns, J.D. Hobby, Ben Cox, Jacob Markey, and Jon Zaehringer.