St. Norbert Pulls Away from Red Devils in Season Finale, 70-21
EUREKA – St. Norbert pulled away from the Eureka football team in the final game of the 2021 season on Saturday at McKinzie Field.
The Green Knights racked up 35 second-half to put the Red Devils away, 70-21, on Senior Night.
The Red Devils struck first and were in contention throughout the first half, but the Green Knight scored the last touchdown of the half to take a 14-point lead into half and largely cruised after the break.
Eureka struck first, accomplishing the rare blocked field goal for a touchdown return. It happened with 11:27 left in the first quarter when St. Norbert attempted a 37-yard field goal.
Eureka senior Mason Diederich (Washington, Ill./Washington) blocked Dan Simon's kick and Joe Jackson (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods) retrieved it and ran it all the way back for a 71-yard touchdown return for a touchdown. Diederich finished with a team- and season-high 13 total tackles in his final game as a Red Devil.
Austin Hopkins (Arcola, Ill./Arcola), Jack Arnett (Princeton, Ill./Princeton) and Donavan Hathaway (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) all notched eight tackles on the day.
St. Norbert came back and answered on the next drive, scoring on a six-yard rush by running back Delton Zuleger.
Eureka regained the lead on a 27-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Lukas Tinkham (Abingdon, Ill./Abingdon-Avon) to Pierce Bradford (Decatur, Ill./Argenta-Oreana) after Tinkham rushed for a first down on fourth down to keep the drive alive.
The Red Devils went into the second quarter with a seven-point lead, but St. Norbert came back with a quick touchdown early in the fourth. The extra point was blocked, keeping the Red Devils ahead by one point.
However, Tinkham was intercepted on the next EC possession, setting up the Green Knights' go-ahead score on a 22-yard touchdown reception by David Lox from Ben Kohl.
After forcing a Red Devil three-and-out, St. Norbert extended the lead to two-scores with an eight-yard run by Lox with 9:38 left in the first half.
Eureka successfully cut the lead to seven points following a one-yard Tinkham rush for a touchdown on fourth and goal with 4:56 left in the half. It ended up being EC's last score of the game.
St. Norbert scored with 20 seconds left after another interception set up another short field and score, starting a stretch of 42 unanswered points.
Tinkham finished with 118 passing yards with one touchdown and three interceptions on 11-of-22 passing and one rushing touchdown on 13 carries.
Bradford finished with a team-high 64 receiving yards and one touchdown on three receptions.
Malek Folson (Cocoa, Fla./Vera) notched a pair of receptions for 26 yards and Sebastian Hill (Pekin, Ill./Pekin) posted three receptions for 25 yards.
Before the game, 17 seniors were honored for their contributions to the program.
Not everyone was suited up to participate in the competition, but safety Daetayvian Woodson (Sherman, Ill./Williamsville), linebacker Diederich, defensive back Malaki Jenkins (Chicago, Ill./Collins), wide receiver Folston, running back Kyler Allen (Memphis, Tenn./Bartlett), linebacker Colton Walsberg (Pontiac, Ill./Pontiac), fullback Chandler Boyd (Vandalia, Ill./Vandalia), defensive lineman Jon Jackson (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods), offensive lineman Bryce Ohrt (Limestone, Ill./Herscher), defensive and offensive lineman Chase Parkinson (Lacon, Ill./Midland), defensive lineman Ried Morrell (Mowequa, Ill./Central A&M), offensive lineman Ben Appell (Pekin, Ill./Pekin), offensive lineman Martin LeCesne (Joliet, Ill./Joliet West) and defensive lineman Keegan Kerr (White Heath, Ill./Monticello) were all involved in the last Eureka football game of their career.
The 2021 Red Devils concluded the season at 2-8 on the season and 2-6 in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play.
The team endured its way through a slew of injuries and challenging circumstances until the end, and will benefit from the adversity it was forced to stare down this fall. The Red Devils will be back to building towards another championship season before you know it.
