Week 5 NUIC Football Recap

By Al Zipsie

For a late September, Friday night lights was a week five Indian Summer version.

Lena-Winslow is now the only unbeaten team left in the NUIC. The Panthers ranked first in the AP 1A State Poll gave Eastland/Pearl City their second loss in as many weeks 34-6. Rahveon Valentine, the talented Lena-Winslow senior running back needed 156 yards to go over 3,000 for his prep career. He got 228 yards. Valentine played little as a freshman and injuries slowed him the past two years. But this season Valentine has been racking up the yards and touchdowns. Lena-Winslow dominated the line of scrimmage.

In other NUIC Northwest action, Dakota rolled over Du/Pec 45-6. Trey Engelbrecht on runs of 30 and 48 and Mason Peters (148 yards rushing) on runs of 95 and 47 scored a pair of touchdowns each. Kyle Bordner also hooked up with Duncan for a 62 yard TD pass.

West Carroll continued to impress blanking Galena 46-0. Kody Plattenberger had 167 yards passing in the win. Amboy had a 33-7 victory over East Dubuque.

A crossover game saw No 3 state-ranked Forreston and Aquin play for the first time since 2006. Both are now 4-1. The Cardinals gave Aquin their first loss of the season 50-19. Forreston racked up 386 rushing yards. They took the lead when the Bulldogs on their opening drive had a snapped punt go into the end for a safety. A.J Christensen had three interceptions for the Cardinals. Aquin's Jonah Diemer in the loss was 23 for 45 and 277 yards passing and three touchdowns in the air.

The non-conference game saw Ashton/Franklin Center rout River Valley 60-0.

In the Upstate it was a good matchup with Milledgeville and Orangeville, both coming in 3-1. And it was a battle as Milledgeville held on for a 30-28 win.Stockton shutout River Ridge 34-0 and Polo beat Warren 41-8.

Stateline Sports Hub. NUIC Rankings. After week five.