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Saturday,
October 5, 2002
No. 3 Bloomington races past
Rantoul
By Randy Sharer
Pantagraph staff
RANTOUL -- Bloomington High School's 67-6 football victory
over Rantoul Friday night at Bill Walsh Field may have lacked drama, but
it didn't lack entertainment value.
The Purple Raiders made big plays left and right -- and up the middle
-- while giving Coach Rigo Schmelzer what he wanted: a relatively injury
free outing with efficient execution.
"We had a couple slips here and there, a couple missed blocks,
but I thought our kids came out with pretty good intensity and we played
pretty well," he said.
The bid for an injury free game was nixed at the 9:49 mark of the
first quarter when BHS tight end Dan Cotton left the game with a shoulder
injury after making a 16-yard reception.
The Raiders' first drive then stalled at the Rantoul 9-yard line, a
fact first-year Eagle coach Trevor Lehnen later cited as a highlight for
his squad.
BHS, ranked No. 3 in the state in Class 6A, scored on its next eight
possessions to improve to 6-0 with its 31st consecutive regular season
victory.
The Big 12 Conference non-divisional result dropped Rantoul to 1-5.
The Eagles have lost 11 consecutive games to BHS since 1985.
All 60 Purple Raiders played and it was the last batch which
surrendered a touchdown with 1:37 left.
BHS' Chad Olson and Damon Mehlberg each scored three touchdowns and
Andre Brown threw four touchdown passes.
Olson blocked a punt and returned the ball five yards for one
touchdown. He also caught three passes for 113 yards, scoring on
receptions of 35 and 62 yards.
"He's a pretty impressive kid," Schmelzer said. "He's
got speed. A couple more inches (of height) and a couple more pounds and
he would get looked at by some schools."
Mehlberg rushed five times for 115 yards, scoring on runs of 87, 4 and
6 yards. The 213-pound senior pulled away from two pursuers on his
87-yarder.
"Once he gets going, he's tough to bring down," Schmelzer
said.
James Wade added 105 yards on 16 carries for BHS and he scored on a
12-yard catch.
Brown completed 7 of 9 passes for 179 yards. His fourth TD toss was to
Rodney Hursey from nine yards out. Jeremy Peden converted seven of nine
extra-point tries.
BHS gained 553 yards to Rantoul's 135.
"I thought offensively and defensively we played really
well," Brown said. "We started off a little slow. I feel like
the line stepped it up."
Rantoul scored when Ricky Shep snaked five yards through the BHS
reserves. Justin Harrison answered for the Raiders with a 68-yard
touchdown run with 40 seconds left.
"He unloaded some punishment on those kids," said Schmelzer,
who saw the junior gain 92 yards on five carries.
Rantoul didn't complete any of its five passes as Raiders Michael
Harrison and Corey Clemons each intercepted a pass.
"They are ranked third in the state and deservedly so,"
Lehnen said. "They are loaded all the way across in every position.
They are very explosive."
Michael Harrison, who also scored on a 1-yard run, got his
interception in the first quarter at the Rantoul 48-yard line where he
appeared to be stopped.
"They held on to his foot, but he pulled out of it and kept
going," said Schmelzer, who watched Harrison return the ball 25
yards. "The football ability of some of these kids is
impressive."
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