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Saturday,
October 19, 2002
Purple Raiders win in a flash
Lightning ends game in 3rd
quarter
By Joe Deacon
pantagraph staff
BLOOMINGTON -- In more than one sense, the term
"whitewash" was appropriate.
One brief flash of white in the sky with 1:14 remaining in the third
quarter was enough for officials to order the Bloomington and St. Louis
University high school football teams inside Friday night at Fred Carlton
Field. The ensuing downpour then washed away any chances of getting the
game restarted.
That left the Purple Raiders with their 33rd consecutive
regular-season victory, a convincing 26-0 win over the Junior Billikins
visiting from Missouri.
The stoppage came just as BHS was beginning to flex its muscle. Damon
Mehlberg's second 1-yard touchdown plunge capped a 57-yard drive, the
Purple Raiders' second sustained drive of the quarter. The next kickoff
proved to be the game's final play.
"Obviously, the kids were ready to play an entire game,"
said BHS coach Rigo Schmelzer, whose team improved to 8-0 with the
nonconference triumph. "We have other guys who were looking to get
in in the fourth quarter, and that's disappointing for them.
"I thought we were coming out in the third period and doing a nice
job running the ball. We were a bit more ball-control oriented and the
linemen were getting off well and the fullback (Mehlberg) was running
well."
Mehlberg, who finished the game with 50 yards on six carries, joined
with tailback James Wade to form a combination that was wearing the
Billikins down in the third quarter. Wade finished with 81 yards on 15
carries, with 45 of those yards coming after intermission.
BHS tried a balanced attack on offense in the first half, rushing 13
times and passing 14 times. While quarterback Andre Brown completed only
six of those first-half tosses, two of them wound up with Eric Esch in
the end zone.
For the second week in a row, the Raiders scored on their first play
from scrimmage. Brown connected with Esch over the middle, and the senior
receiver dashed down the right sideline for a 74-yard score and a 6-0
lead.
"The way they lined up, we thought the flank would come
open," Schmelzer said. "The flank did come open and Eric did
just a great job of running after the catch."
In the second quarter, Brown and Esch hooked up again, set up by two
big plays. Faced with a third-and-13 situation from the Billikins' 42 and
unable to find an open receiver, Brown managed to scramble 15 yards to
advance the chains. Then Brown hit Daniel Nathan with a screen, and the
junior receiver snaked 17 yards to the 10-yard line.
On first down, Brown then lofted a fade to the right corner of the end
zone, which Esch hauled in for a 12-0 lead.
Despite the two-score advantage, Schmelzer knew the offense was
sputtering.
"In the first half I thought we did a nice job with some things
but I felt we also made some poor reads and just didn't actually get the
ball to receivers," Schmelzer said. "So I didn't think we
executed very well in the first half."
The Raiders' more run-oriented second-half game plan paid dividends
immediately, as BHS marched 67 yards on the half's opening drive to take
a 20-0 lead on Mehlberg's first TD plunge.
Any hopes St. Louis U had left the field with senior quarterback
Dossie Jennings. The Billikins lost their versatile signal-caller with
5:18 left in the second quarter when he injured his leg picking up a
first down on a 4-yard draw.
That left their offense in the hands of Matt McArthur, who had two of
his first three passes intercepted -- one by Esch and one by Noah Wyatt.
"Again the DBs did a nice job," Schmelzer said. "Not
many schools have thrown against us and we were looking forward to this
also as a challenge. We've given up over the course of seven games only
250 yards throwing. The only thing is we just don't have a lot of picks
going for us.
"The DBs did a nice job again tonight, and we are pleased with
our defensive performance."
Bloomington's defense held the Billikins to just 98 yards offense in
the shortened contest.
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