The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The West Prairie-La Harpe Cyclones used a pair of touchdown runs by Eric Swank and a stingy defense to defeat the visiting Beardstown Tigers 12-2 last Saturday afternoon.
The contest, postponed from Friday due to lightning and torrential rain, marked the end of the 2004 season as the Cyclones finished 3-6 and missed the I.H.S.A. playoffs for the first time in a decade.
Saturday came up windy and sunny as the Cyclones started the pregame by honoring their seniors. This group of seven included Austin Johnson, Robbie Moon, Ben Cox, Kevin Penrod, Vic Voight, Jason Poulter, and Jon Zaehringer. Austin Johnson was out with a shoulder injury, but the other six all played key roles in the Cyclone win.
The stiff wind out of the west would play a big part in how this game was played. Beardstown kicked-off and soon pinned WP-LH in their own end. A Cyclone punt into the wind netted only 2 yards and gave the Tigers great field position.
Beardstown could do very little with their favorable position as the Cyclone defense came up with several big stops. Eventually, the Tigers would turn the ball over on downs. This would become a recurring theme for the Cyclone defense as they played their best game of the season.
WP-LH also found the going tough offensively and a 5-yard penalty set them up on their own 20 with a 4th down and 10 yards to go. Still going into the wind, the Cyclones elected to roll the dice and fake a punt. The gamble paid off as sophomore halfback Joel DeCounter took the direct snap from his upback spot and scooted around right end for 13 yards and a first down.
Pumped up by this big special teams' play, the Cyclone offense got untracked. Quarterback Kevin Mershon popped the big play with a 59-yard run up the middle. After a pair of penalties set them back, Junior halfback Eric Swank got the Cyclones on the board with a 25-yard run on a counter right. The extra point run failed so WP-LH led 6-0.
After the ensuing kick-off, the Cyclone defense would step up big again. This time Swank would force a fumble that senior defensive tackle Ben Cox would recover at the Beardstown 30-yard line. As the first period would come to an end, WP-LH was in great position to add to their slim lead.
An 11-yard run by Mershon and a pair of dives by sophomore halfbacks DeCounter and Brian Butterfield would get the ball down to the Tiger 1-yard line. Swank would power in from there to give the Cyclones a 12-0 advantage.
Beardstown would try to answer late in the half with a nice drive of their own. Using a controlled passing attack and some hard running by their fullback, the Tigers got inside the Cyclone 5-yard line.
Faced with a situation that they had come up short on during several occasions this tough season, the Cyclone "D" came up big. After 3 runs netted little gain, the Tigers went to the air on 4th down. DeCounter would pick this pass off in the end zone to thwart the Beardstown offense.
Beardstown would control the ball for much of the second half running 30 plays to the Cyclones 15. But the WP-LH defense was not going to be denied on this day. The only Tiger score would come midway through the final period when the Cyclones elected to take a safety rather than trying to punt out of their own end zone into the stiff wind. This set the final score at 12-2.
As mentioned before, the WP-LH defensive effort was by far their best of the season. they held Beardstown to 203 total yards of offense, including only 92 yards rushing on 39 attempts.
Twenty-three of the Tigers 39 run attempts went for 2 yards or less as the Cyclone defensive front controlled the line of scrimmage.
Swank topped the tackle chart with 14 total stops. Senior defensive back Kevin Penrod was involved in 11 tackles, while Cox was involved in 10. Also on the tackle chart were Jason Poulter, Matt Woolam, Robbie Moon, Ryan Mullenix, John Bruns, J.D. Hobby, Jacob Markey, Jon Zaehringer, and DeCounter.
The Cyclone offense netted 207 yards total, all of which came on the ground. Mershon led the way with 17 attempts for 95 yards. Swank picked up 60 yards, while DeCounter added 39 yards. Butterfield and Woolam also added to the total in limited attempts.