4A No. 6 Mount Zion overcomes three turnovers in Apollo win over Taylorville
TAYLORVILLE — Taylorville's defense forced three turnovers.
Class 4A No. 6 Mount Zion nevertheless avoided the upset in a 28-6 Apollo Conference victory on Friday.
Taylorville senior Baron Odam generated the first turnover on defense.
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The quarterback/defensive back stripped the ball from Mount Zion’s Brayden Trimble early in the second quarter. That set up his 9-yard touchdown pass to Cash Foraker on fourth down for a 7-6 deficit.
"The defense was on point tonight and the offense was just struggling," Odam said. "Ever since that first touchdown, we couldn’t get anything going for us."
Taylorville’s Clark Rahar also recovered a fumble while Jake McConnell had an interception on consecutive Mount Zion possessions in the third quarter with the Tornadoes (3-1 overall, 0-1 Apollo) trailing just 21-6.
Taylorville had limited its first three opponents to 6.3 points per game while the team won by an average margin of 24 points, including a 15-0 shutout against Columbia in Week 3 to surpass last season's 2-7 mark.
The Tornadoes totaled just 152 yards offensively against Mount Zion.
"We teach fundamentals and takeaways," said Taylorville football coach Jeb Odam, who is also Baron's father. "Offensively we couldn’t match what the defense was giving us tonight. We’ve got to find a way to put our guys out in space."
Senior running back Thomas Gettings rushed for 62 yards on 18 carries. Odam went 6-for-11 for 55 yards and one score with one interception.
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Mount Zion senior QB Makobi Adams finished 18 of 25 for 234 yards and three scores with one pick.
Trimble flourished with 10 receptions for 107 yards and one touchdown despite the lost fumble while senior Grant McAtee had four catches for 66 yards and two scores.
Jayger Damarin produced 55 rushing yards for Mount Zion, which improved to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the league.
"Defensively, we played great today," Jeb said. "That’s a high-octane offense with Division I-caliber receivers. They’ve got a quarterback who’s been there for three years and (Mount Zion coach) Pat (Etherton) does a great job with him out in space. The defense did great tonight, but we just could not sustain drives.
"The game plan was to grind it out. We’re a ground-and-pound football team. We just couldn’t quite put ourselves in situations on third downs to get three yards. It was always 3rd-and-7, or it was longer than that."
Contact Bill Welt: 788-1545, bill.welt@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/BillWelt
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA football: Taylorville offense stalls in Apollo loss to Mount Zion
