The Kewanee Boilermakers will be entering rare air territory when they take the field at Kewanee Stadium Friday night to take on Peoria Notre Dame in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.
Kewanee, ranked ninth in the final AP poll, enter postseason play with a record of 8-1. Eight wins is a feat only accomplished by five other teams in the history of KHS football.
Kewanee’s success is due to having a potent offense combined with playing an aggressive style of hard-nosed defense. To that point, the Boilers have the highest scoring average in school history at 35.6 points a game, while the defense has held its opponents to 107 points on the season (an average of 11.9 points per game).
After last year’s team finished 4-5 and missed the playoffs, first year Coach Matt Taylor knew the talent was there, but there was work to do and a few changes needed to be made.
“We knew that with some slight modifications and more discipline, the points would come,” said Taylor. Such accomplishments are nice, but those types of records haven’t been goals or the focus of the team.
“We don’t track those kinds of things,” he added. “We set a couple team goals and when things like that (records) happen within that team sport, those are nice achievements. It’s nice when they can happen organically.”
Taylor continued, “Our number one goal was to get into the playoffs and the other was to compete for a conference title.” Within those goals, the coaching staff stressed “the particulars.” Things like a strong work ethic, focus and discipline.
“Discipline” describes this team well,” noted Taylor. After improving on those particulars, Taylor feels things all kind of line up for the team.
The reward is being a No. 3 seed and having home field advantage in Friday’s showdown with the No. 14, PND. Defeating the Irish, however, won’t be without its set of challenges.
PND’s 5-4 record is deceiving when considering they play in the Big Twelve Conference against teams like Normal Community (9-0 in 7A), Peoria High (7-2 in 5A) and Champaign Centennial (6-3 in 6A).
“They have good size and a good set of running backs,” noted Taylor. “They like to run the ball about 80 percent of the time.”
One of those key offensive threats will be fullback Lawson Alwan (5’11”, 195 lbs). Senior Liam O’Neill is the team’s quarterback (6’0, 175 lbs).
The aforementioned defensive size will be senior tackle Michael McLaughlin (6’3″, 295 lbs), senior guard Tommy Meyer (5’11”, 245 lbs), sophomore tackle Brady Mullens (6’2″, 247 lbs) and Patrick McParland (6’2″, 220 lbs).
Looking to harass quarterback Liam O’Neill will be KHS senior Blake Johnston, who has 14 career sacks and 10 on the season.
In last week’s game against Aurora Central Catholic, the Boiler defense had three sacks, compliments of senior Dan Boswell and juniors Brayden Conley and Alex Duarte.
Defensive standouts for Kewanee have been Blake Johnston (38 solo, 22 assisted tackles), Duarte (30 solo, 23), senior Cruz Paredes (28 solo, 16), junior Davontae Jordan (23 solo, 15), senior Landon Mason (22 solo, 15), Boswell (20 solo, 19), senior Jackson Hawkins (19 solo, 16), senior Braden Clark (26, 7), senior Tre Amos (16 solo, 13) and junior Tyler Johnston (10 solo, 12).
KHS quarterback Braden Clark has been efficient in the pocket. He’s completed 66 of 105 passes for 1,127 yards (17 of those completions were for TDs). He’s only thrown one interception on the season.
His main targets have been junior Ben Taylor (20 catches for 345 yards and 5 TD’s), Davontae Jordan (13 for 290 yards, 3 TD’s), junior Colson Welgat (11 for 247 yards, 4 TD’s) and junior Brady Schiltz (10 for 136, 3 TD’s).
Leading the Boilers in rushing has been workhorse Alex Duarte (88 carries for 758 yards, 10 TD’s). Clark is the team’s second leading rusher with 92 carries for 603 yards and 11 TD’s. Paredes has carried the ball 38 times for 180 yards and three TD’s.
Clark has very consistent in extra point kicks. Last week he was a perfect 6 for 6 and he’s made 40 of 42 PAT kicks on the season (95 percent).
As for punting duties, Clark has punted 15 times for 501 yards (an average of 38.6). To compare, Kewanee’s opponents have punted 28 times for 886 yards (a 31.6 average).
Doors at the KHS Stadium will open at 5:30 pm and kickoff is set for 7 pm.
KHS TEAMS WITH EIGHT WIN SEASONS:
1.) 1912 (8-2)
2.) 1914 (8-3)
3.) 1945 (8-1)
4.) 1946 (8-0-1)
5.) 1982 (8-3)
6.) 2023 (currently 8-1)
Statistics courtesy of Jerry Salisbury.
