Sports

Sunday, November 17, 2002

BHS takes quarterfinal win to heart


Brown's late TD lifts 12-0 Raiders into semifinals


By Bryan Bloodworth
Sports editor

CHAMPAIGN -- Ya' gotta have heart.

Bloomington High School's football team displayed plenty of it -- and needed every bit of it -- to turn back Champaign Centennial, 13-7, Saturday in the quarterfinal round of the Class 6A state playoffs.

"There was a lot of screaming and yelling at halftime among the players about how much heart we have," said BHS senior lineman Andrew Kernes.

"We've always considered ourselves to have big hearts. We may not have the best athletes at Bloomington all the time, but we play hard. I thought everybody played with big hearts in the second half."

The No. 3-state ranked Purple Raiders had to rally in the second half for their 12th victory without a loss.

BHS plays host to upset winner Thornton Fractional South (11-1) in next week's semifinals. South upset No. 2-ranked Oak Lawn Richards.

Quarterback Andre Brown, the heart of the BHS offense, scored the game-winning touchdown with 50 seconds remaining on a 10-yard run.

"It was supposed to be a draw play, but I checked out of it at the line of scrimmage to a pass play," said Brown, who completed 10 of 23 passes for 181 yards. "The middle of the field just kind of opened up in front of me. I saw a seam and took off. Big players have to make big plays in their senior year."

The 215-pound Brown was hit at the 2-yard line by Centennial's Jack Schumacher and flipped end over end into the end zone. Brown's knee hit the 170-pound Schumacher squarely in the helmet and knocked him unconscious.

The game was delayed 20 minutes as the ambulance took Schumacher from the field as the crowd at Tommy Stewart Field sat in silence.

"We think he is going to be all right," said Centennial coach Mike McDonnell, whose team bowed out of the playoffs with a 9-3 record. Schumacher was indeed given a clean bill of health after the game.

Centennial took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter of the clash between the Big 12 Conference division champions.

Speedy Brandon Boswell popped through the middle of the line and outran everyone for 67 yards to the end zone with 3:26 remaining in the first quarter. Shane Scott added the conversion kick.

"They didn't catch us doing anything special," said BHS defensive coordinator Donnie Anderson. "We just got beat on the play."

BHS beat itself up in the first half. Purple Raider receivers dropped three passes; they had seven penalties for 59 yards; and Coach Rigo Schmelzer admitted to some coaching mistakes. Three of the BHS penalties were for illegal substitution because the Purple Raiders had 12 men in the huddle.

"A lot of that was our (the coaches) fault," said Schmelzer. "We were trying to run different sets with two of our top receivers (Chad Olson and Brandon Hughes) out with injuries.

"As we were doing this, we lost track of the substitutions going in and out. The second half we stayed with the same set to avoid the confusion, but it limited what we could do on offense."

The BHS offense spent a great deal of time in Centennial territory in the first half, only to come away empty handed.

"We weren't all on the same page in the first half," said BHS junior running back James Wade, who had a game-high 99 yards on 24 carries. "To be honest, I was very worried.

"I told the guys in the huddle the way we were playing we didn't deserve to win. But, fortunately, we stepped it up and made some big plays and believed in each other. That's why we won."

BHS scored its first touchdown with 4:12 remaining in the third quarter on a 63-yard pass play from Brown to Eric Esch, who caught the ball in stride on a slant pattern. Jeremy Peden added the conversion kick.

"That was a huge play because it gave us back the momentum," said Schmelzer. "And I can't tell you the number of times our defense stepped up and made big plays."

Defensive back Justin Harrison gave a lot of the credit to the defensive line.

"People talk about our defensive backs, but in this game the defensive line came out and played big," said Harrison. "They put a lot of pressure on the quarterback."

The BHS defense limited the Chargers to 174 yards in offense with only 56 coming via the pass. BHS finished with 333 yards in total offense. Esch was the leading receiver with six catches for 108 yards.