Week 4 NUIC Football Recap

By Al Zipsie

Eastland/Pearl City battled Forreston Friday in the NUIC.

But, in the end, E/PC was dealt their first loss of the season to powerhouse Forreston 30-18. It was an exciting first half as Forreston led 22-18. Jayden Kempel put E/PC ahead at 18-14 with a six-yard TD run with 1:32 left in the first half. Hunter Daws then hooked up with Sam Barkalow for a 30 yard TD pass for the 22-18 lead twenty seconds before intermission. The second half then was a defensive slugfest as the Cardinals would score the only touchdown to seal the win.

E/PC now has to turn around and play the state's top-ranked Lena-Winslow at Pearl City on Friday.

In other Northwest games, Dakota defeated East Dubuque 41-26. Lena-Winslow had a 54-12 rout of Galena. Rahveon Valentine scored four touchdowns for the Panthers. Three on runs as he finished with 157 yards on ten carries. He scored a fourth TD on a 50-yard interception return. And Amboy notched their first win with a 27-6 victory over Durand/Pecatonica.

In the Upstate, River Ridge beat Warren 32-12. Orangeville shutout Ashton/Franklin Center 20-0 and Aquin beat Polo 28-0. The game was a scoreless deadlock at halftime. Then the Bulldogs pulled away as quarterback Jonah Diemer was 10 of 15 for 118 yards and a pair of touchdown passes.

In the crossover game, West Carroll went to 3-1 on the season blanking Stockton 14-0. It was a weird feeling as on the visiting sidelines for West Carroll was Chris Thorton and Matt Leitzen. The head coach for West Carroll, Leitzen was a former standout for Stockton.

Thorton is a volunteer coach. He resigned at Stockton after a charge of assault of a student. Thorton was the coach of the state runner-up Stockton team of 2012 and led them to an unbeaten regular season last year before a first-round loss in the playoffs ended up to be his last game with the Blackhawks.

In the non-conference game, Milledgeville rolled over River Valley 65-0.

Stateline Sports Hub. NUIC rankings after week four.