Photo by Keith Stewart
Jordan Feagin tries to escape the clutches of a Villa Grove defender during Friday night’s game. Feagin ran 65 yards on nine carries as well as had three receptions for 57 yards, including one for a touchdown.

Defensive effort creates for well- rounded performance

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Traveling to LOVC rival Villa Grove Friday night, Arthur/Lovington-Atwood/Hammond not only had a conference matchup on the line but also their early qualification into the postseason. The Knights, who lost to VG last year 41-0 would have neither to worry about by the night’s end, as they cruised to a 49-22 win over the Blue Devils, improving to 6-1 on the season and 5-1 in the LOVC.

Villa Grove, however, was the first to strike, marching steadily downfield primarily with their run game, which accounted for the touchdown on fourth and goal on the three yard line. The point-after-attempt did not succeed, but Villa Grove took a 6-0 lead with 6:31 left in the first quarter.

The Knights’ chance to respond was further delayed when the Blue Devils slyly pulled off an onside kick that they recovered just a yard into ALAH’s territory.

But VG could not capitalize after facing fourth-and-2 and being landed a big hit by the Knights’ Logan West, providing for a turnover on downs.

Photo by Keith Stewart
ALAH defensive coordinator Jared Vanausdoll amps up his players during Friday's game at Villa Grove.

“We got the ball, we went down and scored. We onside kicked and got it, so that early I didn’t think it was a momentum buster,” said VG head coach Chad Musselman. “I just wanted our defense to come out and at the very least make them drive the ball the length of the field with a lot of plays to score. I wanted to make them work for it. We didn’t do that.”

Finally with the ball in tow and with over half the first quarter expired, ALAH went to work from their own 35-yard line. The drive would cleanly culminate with a 21-yard pass from Tyler Schuring to Jordan Feagin, who together were almost impossible for Villa Grove to stop.

“We have a good offense this year, and that’s the biggest difference between this year and some of the teams in the past, is we can move the ball and score in a variety of ways, and it certainly is nice to be able to call plays when you have all those options,” said ALAH head coach Dale Schuring.

With the extra point, the Knights took a lead they would not relinquish.

As for the Blue Devils, any attempt at keeping up with ALAH went unsuccessful thanks to a host of particularly untimely penalties and a stifling Knight’s defense.

On the ensuing drive, the Blue Devils were called for a false start on second-and-nine, pushing them back to second-and-14. Defensive lineman Jesse Ruff then recorded a sack on quarterback John Henderson for a loss of eight.

The Knights would not score on the next drive, but the subsequent punt by Ruff went out at the Blue Devils’ 10-yard line. The defense followed by not allowing VG more than three yards, forcing another punt.

The Knights then proceeded to score on their next four possessions, three of which came within 5:10 just before the end of the half, thanks largely to an interception by Feagin on the Blue Devils first play of their drive with 1:06 remaining.

ALAH then came out in the third quarter and not 20 seconds in, scored again, this time with a 66-yard run by Schuring. So in all, the Knights scored four of their seven touchdowns in just 5:30.

“We’re a balanced offense, run-pass–we spread the ball around with the run game. We can spread the ball around with the pass game,” said Schuring. “We have big playability and tonight at times, we pretty much just ran over them.”

The Blue Devils would make an attempt to come back, however, midway through the third quarter and on the back of some luck and missed tackles.

Facing fourth-and-22, VG went to punt, but following a bad snap, the kicker recovered and then ran 75 yards for what was in essence a 54-yard touchdown. A successful two-point conversion cut ALAH’s lead to 35-14.

After a fumble then dropped the Knights for three yards on their ensuing drive, bringing up fourth-and-12, they punted. The Blue Devils drove 78 yards, including conversions on fourth-and-eight and fourth-and-two, to score. Another two-point conversion cut ALAH’s lead further to 13.

Photo by Keith Stewart
David Rosenbaum receives a high-five from head coach Dale Schuring after a big play late in the game.

But the Knights would come back and in three plays score on another Schuring touchdown run. Five minutes later, ALAH scored again when running back Steven Wright carried the ball from one yard out for the score.

“Coach Vanausdoll talked to them about how we had let-downs, and we can’t have those, but the biggest thing is we responded to those,” said Schuring. “We responded last week when Tri-County cut our lead, and we responded tonight when they got those two scores, and our kids just stepped up and made plays and made things happen to stretch the lead back out again and put the game away.”

“I had my fingers crossed,” admitted Musselman about his team’s chances of a comeback. “I really did, but again, the same things killed us. Penalties and mistakes on our part. We did an awful lot to help them. They’re a good team, they’re athletic as heck, and they were physical with us.

“I sure never felt like we had any momentum,” added the VG coach. “They had it the whole time they wanted it, they cared about winning, they cared about beating us. And we were flat and just thought we were going to luck out and win, I guess, I don’t know.”

With the win, the Knights officially qualified for the playoffs but still have two weeks of regular season football to finish.

“It qualifies us for playoffs, which is huge, not that you want to coast from here and we’re certainly not planning on that because we have a lot of things to work on, but it’s nice to know you’re in,” said Schuring. “Now they can readjust their goals a little bit, and we still have hope for conference, but we need help. It’s a good thing, and I’m proud of the kids for what they’ve accomplished.”

The Knights will play in Atwood Friday against Arcola for Atwood/Hammond’s homecoming.