With his team down by six points late in the second quarter and his star quarterback on the bench with a separated shoulder, Bremen coach John D’Ambrosio looked over to Tim Daggy. And the backup signal-caller responded with a few brief words.
“I’m ready coach–we can win,” Daggy said after starter Jesse Isom had to take himself out of the game when he could no longer throw the ball.
Daggy directed a 16-play, 67-yard drive to set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Kurt Kries (13 carries, 63 yards) late in the third quarter to give the Braves their first lead. Midway through the fourth, Jim Dempsey picked up a fumble and returned it 32 yards for a score to seal the unbeaten Braves’ 20-13 victory over Champaign Central (6-4) Friday night in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs in Midlothian.
“He was starting to hurt late in the second quarter,” D’Ambrosio said of Isom, who may miss the remainder of the season. “But he is such a tough kid, we didn’t know how severe it was.”
Bremen’s victory sets up a second-round meeting with Morris.
Champaign Central, which was led by Bryan Gwinn’s two touchdown passes, ended its season 6-4.
Morris 21, Batavia 14: Neither team scored in the first half, which lasted just 35 minutes, but host Morris (8-2), led by Matt Curran’s two touchdowns, scored 21 unanswered points in the third quarter to win its first-round game. Batavia (7-3) rallied with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Late in the fourth, the Bulldogs attempted an onsides kick, but the ball was recovered by Morris’ Mike Peterson to seal the victory.
Morris kicked off with the wind in the third, which aided the Redskins. Nathan Slaughter opened the scoring for Morris with 10:27 left on a 9-yard run. Three minutes later, Curran scored from the 5 and then added a TD on a 45-yard run. Curran finished with 260 yards on 36 carries. Morris gained 335 yards on offense to Batavia’s 120 for the game.
Providence 49, Riverside-Brookfield 6: R-B’s Eric Bava returned the game’s opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown, and Providence (9-1) then fumbled away the kickoff, giving the Bulldogs the ball at the Providence 33 with 11:45 left in the opening quarter. But the Celtic defense held, forcing the Bulldogs (6-4) to go four and out. After that, the defending 4A champion Celtics scored on four of their next five possessions, building a 42-6 lead at the half.
Class 1A
Poplar Grove-North Boone 40 Mooseheart 0: North Boone (9-1) gained 370 yards of total offense; Mooseheart (7-3) had 49.
