Red Devils Looking to Keep it Going against CUW
EUREKA – One week after a rainy, cathartic Homecoming victory over Concordia Chicago, the Eureka football team is returning to McKinzie Field for another big Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference showdown.
On Saturday at 1 p.m., the Red Devils are hosting Concordia Wisconsin and looking to keep it going.
Last week, the maroon and gold bested the Cougars 38-13 to seize the program's eighth Homecoming victory in its past 10 tries. The team has now picked up wins in two of the past three weekends.
It started slow, with the home team trailing 6-0 after the first quarter, but the Red Devils posted 17 points in the second quarter and largely cruised from there.
"It was obviously a good win for us," EC coach Kurt Barth said. "We played well in all three phases. We got off to a slow start, which is something we need to avoid, but I was proud of the way our guys bounced back and did things kind of the right way. We're starting to get closer and closer to being more consistent and playing our way. That's encouraging."
The Red Devils are growing from week to week – through their experiences on the field every Saturday and at practice every day in between. Last week, the team also had a chance to glean lessons from the 2021 Eureka College Athletics Hall of Fame inductions. Barth said that the individual and team stories that were told at last Saturday's ceremony are good examples for the 2021 team to follow – from Dave Darnall's 1987-88 "Together We Win" men's basketball team to the 2013 football team that went 8-2 under Barth eight years ago.
"They played for each other," Barth said of the 2013 team. "It didn't matter who caught passes, who made tackles, who threw the ball – that stuff didn't matter to them. They cared about playing football and playing for each other.
"When we hit that point, I think this team is going to take off, because they are very talented."
That talent was on full display when the Red Devils got on the board with the most exhilarating play of the day last Saturday. The team was down 6-0 with the ball at its own 7 on 3rd and 8 when quarterback Lukas Tinkham hit Sebastian Hill over the top for a 93-yard touchdown reception.
Hill finished with three touchdown receptions for 149 yards – both career highs for the freshman.
"Sebastian continues to get better each and every week," Barth said. "I think he's a very complete receiver. He does well blocking, he does well with the ball not in his hands and he's certainly a very talented player with the ball in his hands, so he's got a very bright future."
Fellow freshman receiver Cedric Hopkins also had a strong day, notching three catches for 100 yards, including a 74-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
It was the first time Eureka has had at least two players record 100 receiving yards in the same game since Jordan Kindred (143), Jake Bane (109) and Cody Followell (106) did it against Greenville on Oct. 20, 2012.
Barth was also complimentary of senior Pierce Bradford's contributions. The Red Devils' leading receiver only made one catch on Saturday, but he made an impact in other ways.
"Obviously, Pierce is our guy and we didn't get him the ball enough," Barth said, "but he still contributed. He had a nice run, he had a nice catch and he contributed as a leader even more, which is always good to see.
"He didn't care that he wasn't getting the ball as much as we wanted to get it to him, or certainly as much as he would like. He kept making plays and doing things right and making everybody else around him better."
Under center, Tinkham continued to show growth in his second week as the starting quarterback, throwing for 318 yards and five touchdowns on 11-of-24 passing.
Defensively, the Red Devils forced a season-high five turnovers. The team still conceded a couple of big plays, but overall, it limited the opponents' opportunities by exerting pressure on the quarterback. Chief among the standout performances were those of sophomore Joe Jackson in the secondary and linebackers Brendan Durr and Mason Diederich.
"We talked all week to our defense about playing fast," Barth said. "I'm watching them practice and they're just going. We haven't seen that in the previous games, and Saturday we started to see it. That's a very talented group that has a lot of ability. We just have to continue to perfect it."
Eureka's special teams also continued to see good production from kickers Sam Bartels and Steven Bartkus. Bartels, a sophomore, converted his first field goal attempt of the season and went 5-for-5 on extra points attempts. Bartkus, a freshman, racked up four touchbacks and consistently put the ball where the team wanted it.
ABOUT CONCORDIA WISCONSIN
Concordia Wisconsin is coming into this one with a 4-1 record on the season and a 2-1 record in NACC play. The Falcons have played the same three teams that the Red Devils have played.
The team opened league play with a 31-20 loss against Benedictine, which bested Eureka 49-29 in Lisle in Week 4. The Falcons were right there with the Eagles at halftime, but as they did against Eureka, they pulled ahead and sealed the win in the second half.
The following week, Concordia Wisconsin rebounded with a 28-19 win over Concordia Chicago. The Falcons didn't overpower and pull away from the Cougars the way Eureka did, but the team played solid defense and finished enough drives to get the win.
Last week, the Falcons leaned on its running game, tallying 261 rushing yards and two touchdowns to go with a passing touchdown and a touchdown off a kick return in a 41-7 win over Rockford. Running back Pierre Summers rushed for 150 yards on 12 carries and scored a touchdown in the win.
With 917 passing yards and 177 rushing yards, quarterback James Linn is a dual threat who has a strong arm and is good on his feet. He is fourth in the NACC in passing touchdowns with 12 and he has rushed for three scores as well. He leads a steady offense that is averaging 30.4 points per game.
His top receivers are senior Tim Houlihan (20 receptions for 280 yards and four touchdowns), junior Christian Booker (18 receptions for 174 yards and four touchdowns) and Samuel Campbell Jr. (17 receptions for 211 yards and three touchdowns).
On the other side of the ball, the Falcons have conceded an average of less than 20 points per game.
Eureka trails Concordia Wisconsin in the all-time series 20-10-1, but the Red Devils have claimed two of three meetings between the teams since joining the NACC in 2018.
In 2018, Le'Anthony Reasnover pushed Eureka to a 48-45 victory, scoring the game-winning touchdown in dramatic fashion with 19 seconds to go.
Two years ago, Eureka earned a 24-0 shutout over the Falcons, and last spring, the Falcons came out on top 37-21 in a game in which both teams were shorthanded.
Whatever happens Saturday, it's sure to be memorable.
