The Class 4A No. 10 Kewanee Boilermakers will face an unfamiliar entity tonight when they take on Aurora Central Catholic in the final game of the regular season.
All teams on the TRAC-East side of the conference needed to find an opponent to fill the vacancy that was left when St. Bede left the conference in favor of joining the Chicago Prairie Football League.
Bureau Valley also added ACC (3-5) to their schedule and the result was a lopsided 67-19 Storm win.
After seeing the score of that game, KHS Coach Matt Taylor knew that the key would be to have the same approach they’ve had in preparing for every game this season.
“We conditioned them well this week – like we do every week,” said Taylor. “Our guys know they need to come out and play hard and we’ve been stressing that all week,” he added.
Another key motivator for the Boilers is picking up their eighth win — a feat only attained by five other KHS football teams. The 1934 team was 9-0; 1943 (9-1); 1982 (8-3); 1999 (10-2) and the 2021 team finished with a record of 9-2.
As for cracking the Top 10, Coach Taylor noted that it’s a nice honor to be recognized by people who know and appreciate the game.
Some may be surprised that Kewanee’s debut was on the 4A poll (instead of 3A), but Taylor wasn’t surprised. “We’ve been fixed in 4A for quite some time, so we’ve gotten used to the fact that that’s where we’d fall,” he said.
Tonight the seniors from all of the fall sports programs will be recognized at 6:15, prior to the start of the football game.
Coach Taylor and his assistants will honor the teams’ 10 senior players. “These guys welcomed the new coaching staff and adapted well to the expectations that we had for them,” said Taylor.
“They’ve accomplished that by being disciplined and flexible with the changes we’ve made,” he added. “It’s been an honor to work with this group of athletes.”
Coach Taylor also praised the group of men who who help prepare the team on a daily basis. Taylor’s staff includes Jared Hahn (head coach of the Riveters and varsity assistant coach), Courtney Conley, Rick LaFollette, Corey Tavares, Nick Christakos and Mike Weir; and volunteer assistant coach Max Taylor.
“My appreciation to them for all of their hard work and the kind of professionalism they bring to the program,” said Taylor. They were an integral part of introducing new schemes, new offense and modifying the defense. My respectt to them.”
CAREER MILESTONES
Senior Braden Clark (QB/DB) needs just eight points to become the Boilers’ all-time leading scorer. The record of 212 points is currently held by Nels Fuglsang and that benchmark was set in 1916 (107 years ago).
CAREER RUSHING YARDS
22.) John Hart (1979) 1008
23.) Eric Welgat (1984) 995
24.) Alex Duarte (2025) 977
25.) Earl Dunn (1972) 937
26.) Corey Tavares (2004) 925
27.) Braden Clark (2024) 909
