The Program: Unity football in 2023, Week 8
Oct. 12—Each week, we'll get to know a bit more about the 14 seniors on the Rockets' roster. This week's guest: offensive lineman Payton Bradley
➜ The best part of Hicks Field ... is definitely the fans. It's a great experience every week.
➜ The best part of being a Unity football player is ... being a part of the team. It really brings a lot out of you emotionally because you know you're backed by your teammates every week.
➜ Three people I'd like to have dinner with are ... John Jones because he's my favorite fighter, Floyd Mayweather because he's my favorite boxer and Genghis Khan because he's the coolest dude ever.
➜ My biggest pet peeve is ... losing things that aren't my fault. So, if I have a task at hand and I'm doing it with a group and we lose and it's not my fault, I'm not very happy with them.
Each week, we'll catch up with Unity coach Scott Hamilton to look back at how the Rockets fared in their previous game and look ahead at what's next:
Week 7: Unity 63, Rantoul 6
Among the highlights in the Rockets' runaway Illini Prairie Conference win at Bill Walsh Field? A 1-yard touchdown run by junior Oscar Boldt, a foreign exchange student from Germany, in the fourth quarter after Unity led 49-0 at halftime.
"He was all excited about that," Hamilton said. "It was a fun night. It's always good when you can go play a game like that, take care of business early and get away with a nice win. Some of the areas we've really worked at the last couple weeks, we continued to see improvement," Hamilton said. "That'll be important as we try to close out with two tough games and get ready for the playoffs.
Week 8: Paxton-Buckley-Loda (5-2) at Unity (5-2), 7 p.m. Friday
Unity can clinch a playoff spot with a win on senior night against the Panthers. The two Illini Prairie teams played last season amid rainy and muddy conditions at Zimmerman Field at I-57 Stadium in Paxton, with Unity slogging its way to a 26-12 win.
Rain is expected in the forecast on Friday night, but mud won't be prevalent since Hicks Field has turf. Regardless of the weather, though, the Rockets will play a PBL team fresh off a 22-17 home win against Monticello.
"PBL presents a lot of challenges, and they're going to be confident," Hamilton said. "We'll have to be ready to go."
Biggest among those challenges is junior running back Robert Boyd-Meents, who has rushed for 1,045 yards on 110 carries and 20 touchdowns this season. He's also caught five touchdown passes.
"He's got great size and power," Hamilton said. "He does create some unique challenges."
