The 3-0 Kewanee Boilermakers will attempt to keep their hot streak going Friday night when they travel to Manlius to take on the 2-1 Bureau Valley Storm.
“They have a nice ball club,” said KHS Coach Matt Taylor. “They run the ball about 80 percent of the time, so we anticipate that being the case when we play them,” added Taylor.
Leading BV’s ground attack are senior Cameron Lemon, who averages 107 yards a game, and junior Elijah Endress, who carries the ball for 80 yards per game.
Bryce Helms is the team’s starting quarterback. “We respect Helm’s ability to pass the ball. They’ll occasionally pass it to keep teams honest,” noted Taylor.
The Boiler defense has been on task and stingy, especially the last two games. KHS is averaging 32 pts/game, while only giving up an average of 7 pts a contest. They held their last two opponents scoreless and only relinquished five first downs against Mendota.
“We’re really happy with that. We’ve given up plays here and there but, overall, we’re doing a pretty good job,” said Taylor. The last time a Kewanee team had back-to-back shut outs was during the 1999 season.
By contrast, the Boilermaker offense moved the chains for 19 first downs (13 on the ground and 5 through the air) against the Trojans. They added 112 passing yards for a combined 379 total yards offense.
KHS ran the ball 30 times and accumulated 267 yards rushing. Alex Duarte had 6 carries for 74 yards. Quarterback Braden Clark tallied 68 yards on 5 carries and Ben Taylor had 3 carries for 55 yards.
Kewanee’s passing game has been very efficient. In last week’s win over Mendota, Clark connected on 5 of 6 passes for 93 yards and Landon Sheets completed his lone throw for a 19-yard gainer. They were a combined 6 of 7 for 112 yards.
Their primary targets were Davontae Jordan (2 catches for 50 yards), Draven Peterson (1 for 19 yards) and Ben Taylor (2 for 36 yards).
The KHS defense continues to impress. Mendota’s offensive backfield carried the ball 31 times for a net gain of 57 yards. Helms completed 6 of 13 passes for 54 yards, totaling 111 yards offense.
Three Boilermaker defenders recorded 4 solo tackles against Mendota. Blake Johnston (2 assists), Duarte (2 assists) and Draven Peterson.
Seven Boilers had 2 solo tackles each, they are Tyler Johnston (2 assists), Jackson Hawkins (2 assists), Dan Boswell (2 assists), Gunner Salisbury (1 assist), Brayden Conley (1 assist), Dontaveon Thomas and Prestin Stabler.
Kashen Ellerbrock had 1 solo tackle and 3 assists and Miguel Gomez had 1 solo and 2 assists.
