Eureka Perseveres, Tops Greenville, 23-14
GREENVILLE, Ill. – The Eureka football team persevered in a tight road contest at Greenville on Saturday, winning 23-14 and securing the Red Devils' first 2-0 start since 2019.
The Red Devils earned an early lead, weathered a couple of big plays by the home team in the second quarter, and shut out Panthers in the second half.
With the maroon and gold leading by nine points, Greenville worked its way into the red zone in the final two minutes, but the Red Devils' defense put the game away with a forced turnover. Senior linebacker Brendan Durr (Washington, Ill./Washington) sacked the quarterback and forced a fumble on the Eureka 13, and the Red Devils ran out the clock from there.
The Eureka defense held Greenville to 284 yards of total offense, with the Panthers finishing with less than 200 rushing yards and less than 100 passing yards. Durr racked up a game-high 13 total tackles, including five solo efforts and eight assists, along with a sack, a forced fumble and a pass breakup.
Freshman Hansen Johnson (Laplace, Louisiana/East St. John) tallied 10 total tackles, including a team-high eight solos and a pass breakup. Austin Hopkins (Arcola, Ill./Arcola) and David Hill (Elgin, Ill./St. Edwards Catholic) followed with nine and eight total tackles, respectively, while Willie Cox (Decatur, Ill./Decatur MacArthur) and Ezzellddin Sabah (Tinley Park, Ill./Tinley Park) each had five.
On the other side of the ball, quarterback Kaeden Frazier (Clarkston, Wash./Clarkston) threw for 230 yards on 12-of-24 passing with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Top receiver Sebastian Hill (Pekin, Ill./Pekin) hauled in four catches for 109 yards and two scores. He now has four receiving touchdowns on the season and 16 in his career, moving him into a tie with Scott Watson (1989-92) for fifth in program history.
Jack Butler (Tinley Park, Ill./Tinley Park) posted three receptions for 50 yards, and Austin Swiech (Fairbury, Ill./Prairie Central) notched three for 47.
Three ball carriers tallied over 40 yards. Jakobe Deloach (Columbus, Miss./Killeen) recorded a team-high 47 rushing yards on 17 carries and scored his first career touchdown. Angel Garcia (Elgin, Ill./Larkin) added 45 yards on eight carries and fullback Ben Bernabei (Peru, Ill./St. Bede Academy) had 44 yards on nine rushing attempts.
The Red Devils raced down near the goal line on their first drive of the game, but the Panthers held them off at the 2-yard line and forced them to settle for a 22-yard field goal by kicker Steven Bartkus (Seneca, Ill./Seneca).
Greenville attempted to tie the game with a 40-yard field goal early in the second quarter. The kick came up short, however, and the white jerseys proceeded to piece together their longest drive of the day – a 12-play, 76-yarder that ended with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Frazier to Hill.
The Panthers responded with a 100-yard touchdown return by Clay Quintral to steal some of the momentum back, but it didn't last for long.
Three plays and 20 seconds later, Frazier found Hill en route to a 52-yard touchdown pass. Bartkus' extra point gave EC a game-high 10-point lead.
Greenville came back with another big play, though. Paul Garrett broke loose for a 60-yard touchdown run that made it a three-point game with less than six minutes until halftime. Garrett finished with a game-high 143 rushing yards on 18 carries for the Panthers.
No matter; the Red Devils' defense and special teams made sure that was the home team's last score of the game.
In the second half, Greenville missed a 37-yard field goal attempt and was forced to punt twice before Durr drove in the dagger at the end.
Eureka's final score came on a 1-yard touchdown run by Deloach after the team successfully executed a six-play, 61-yard drive that lasted nearly four minutes at the end of the third quarter.
Eureka (2-0) will return to McKinzie Field on Saturday to open Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play against Rockford (1-1) at 1 p.m.