The Kewanee Boilermakers traveled to Monmouth Friday night and came away with a 42-21 non-conference win over the Monmouth-Roseville Titans. The Boilers are now 6-1 on the season and 3-1 in TRAC play. The Titans fall 3-4 and 2-2.
On Kewanee’s first possession of the game, Cruz Paredes had a big 35-yard run down to the Titans’ 25 yard line. On a third and 10 play with 13 to go, KHS quarterback Braden Clark found Ben Taylor at the corner of the end zone for the first score of the game. Clark’s PAT kick was good for the early 7-0 KHS lead.
The Titans started their first drive in good field position from their own 41. Running back Payton Thompson had a 19-yard gainer on a misdirection play for a first down. The Titans marched to the KHS 4-yard line and Thompson punched it in from there to cap off the 59 yard drive. The PAT kick was missed, so the Boilers maintained a 7-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Titans defense held on Kewanee’s second possession and the Boilers were forced to punt. The Titans fumbled a handoff on the their next possession and the ball was recovered by Kewanee’s Jackson Hawkins at the Titans’ 39 yard line.
That was followed by a big 39-yard touchdown pass from Clark to Ben Taylor. Clark’s extra point kick was good for the 14-6 KHS lead with 8:22 left in the first half.
On Kewanee’s ensuing kickoff, the ball bounced off the face mask of the Titans’ kick receiver and was recovered by Brady Schiltz at the Mon-Rose 35 yard line.
After moving the ball to the two yard line, Clark forced his way into the end zone with 3:10 left in the half. After another Clark PAT kick, the Boiler lead grew to 21-6.
On the Titans’ next possession, they went for a fourth and short at midfield, but Myers was stuffed on the play. What appeared to be a long field goal attempt was short and fielded by Kewanee’s Tre Amos and taken to the Titans’ 26 yard line
That drive included a 29-yard pass from Clark to Davontae Jordan. Another pass, this time a 9-yarder to Taylor, helped set up Kewanee’s final play of the half.
With 4.8 seconds left and the Boilers just over midfield, Clark completed a 40-yard TD pass to Colson Welgat. The Clark PAT was good and the Boilers carried a 21-6 halftime lead.
At the start of the third, Kewanee took over on downs deep into Titan territory at the 35 yard line. After a couple short runs by Cruz Paredes, Duarte pushed his way up the middle for a 26-yard TD score. The lead ballooned to 36-6.
The Titans had a sustained drive, but again were forced to turn the ball over on downs. On the second play, Clark broke for a 50-yard run down the sideline to the Titans’ 23 yard line. A 5-yard pass to Jordan followed for the 42-6 score.
Monmouth-Roseville tacked on two scores in the fourth quarter for the 42-21 final.
Kewanee racked up a total 341 yards for the game (186 on the ground and 155 in the air). The Titans had 238 (204 on the ground and 34 passing).
Clark was 9 for 14 for 155 yards, while Andrew Myers was 4 of 9 for 34 yards for Monmouth-Roseville.
Ben Taylor had three catches for 61 yards. Davontae Jordan had two catches for 45 yards and Colson Welgat one catch for 38 yards
On the ground, Clark had eight carries for 78 yards and Duarte had 10 carries for 78 yards.
