Milestone 'W' and stout 'D': What we learned about Peoria-area football in Week 4
Here are some takeaways from Week 4, including a Washington coaching milestone, Morton's stout defense, a state-ranked battle and a look ahead to Week 5.
Washington coach surpasses a legend
Retiring Washington football coach Darrell Crouch won his 148th career game as head coach of the Panthers, surpassing hall of fame coach John Venturi for the most in school history.
Crouch is in his 19th and final season as coach — a tenure that includes 15 successive playoff appearances and seven seasons with 10 or more wins.
Venturi was 147-60 in 20 years as head coach at the school, from 1979 to 1998. He led the Panthers to the 1985 Class 4A state championship.
Both Crouch and Venturi more than doubled third place on the all-time list, the namesake of the program's home field: Golden Babcook, who was 72-52-5 in 15 seasons from 1938 to 1952.
Week 4 football coverage: Full recap | All the scores | Top performers
Defense key to Morton's 4-0 start
Morton seems to be thriving on the defensive side of the ball.
The Potters limited their Mid-Illini Conference visitor Metamora to 237 total yards (90 passing,147 rushing) in grabbing a 45-19 victory. This marks the third time this season Morton has held its opponent under 20 points, giving up just 18 points a game.
Give most, if not all the credit to first-year head coach Adam O'Neill — the defensive architect of Peoria High's 2016 Class 5A state championship. Morton forced a pair of turnovers against Metamora, getting an interception by Silas Steffen as well as a 57-yard pick-6 from Clint Teater.
"We play with really good speed," O'Neill said. "We've been really disciplined. It starts up front. Our d-line is really good. ... It's been all over. Our linebacker play has been good. Our secondary's been good.
"We focus really hard on winning first down and putting (teams) in tough situations and then getting off the field."
Peoria High loses state-ranked tussle
The Lions headed to Normal Community for a state-ranked matchup and looking for a way to stay atop the Big 12 Conference standings, but came back across the river with a 63-42 loss.
Peoria High (2-2, 2-1), which is rated No. 4 in Class 5A, outgained the Class 7A fifth-ranked Ironmen (4-0, 3-0), 476-440, but Normal quarterback Kyle Beaty accounted for seven touchdowns. He threw for 227 yards and four scores while getting in the endzone on his only three carries.
Peoria High starting QB Tino Gist (undisclosed reasons) did not play, leaving the offense up to sophomore backup Breon Green (143 passing yards, 3 TDs). Running back Maliek Ross (292 yards, 2 TD) and a trio of receivers Spencer Russell, Sean Franklin and Jaylen Rayford, who all had TDs, also were key contributors.
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What's ahead in Week 5
The River City rivalry between Peoria High and Manual at Peoria Stadium highlights the slate in Week 5. The Lions look to bounce back and take a Manual team hungry for their first win of the season.
In the Mid-Illini, Metamora, Canton and Pekin all look to get into the league win column, while Dunlap, Morton and Washington are aiming to stay unbeaten. Limestone and East Peoria are both 1-1, having tough tasks with the Panthers and Eagles, respectively, coming to town.
Three pretty good small-school games are on the docket highlighted by rivalry games between Elmwood/Brimfield heading to Farmington as well as United facing off against Princeville. Deer Creek-Mackinaw heads to Eureka in a matchup that should provide plenty of intrigue in the Heart of Illinois Conference.
Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall. Wes Huett contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: IHSA football Week 4 takeaways: Results from biggest games near Peoria
