Bulldogs Dominate on the Ground in 28-6 Win Over Taylorville
By FRED KRONER
Truth be told, Mahomet-Seymour football coach Jon Adkins enters each high school game with the same basic objective.
“To be balanced (offensively, 50 percent running plans and 50 percent passing plays),” Adkins said.
On Friday night (Sept. 27), Adkins didn’t get his wish.
Mother Nature had her way on a windy and wet field at Taylorville.
When the Apollo Conference contest ended, with the Bulldogs winning 28-6, the statistics sheet told a compelling story.
Bulldog quarterback Luke Dyer received 65 snaps from center.
Eight times, he attempted a pass.
The other 57 times, he handed the ball to a teammate or ran himself.
For the first time in 23 games, M-S amassed more than 300 yards rushing in a game. Thanks to a game-high 152 by Cade Ashby, the Bulldogs ground out 310 rushing yards.
“The weather had a huge impact,” Adkins said. “I guarantee we wanted to throw more than eight times.”
As the game progressed, it was clear that both teams would be content running the ball. That added to the impressive totals produced by the M-S offense.
“Our offensive line was huge,” Adkins said. “When teams know you will run the ball, and you continuously run, for those guys to create holes was insane.”
The front line consisted of Noah and Philip Daniels, Oliver Smith and Kolton Metcalf-Poulos along with the players who shared time at center, Tyson Finch and Josh Craig.
Additionally, the team’s Offensive Player of the Game was a senior reserve who can rotate at any of the line positions, Brayden Lamb.
“He’s our do-it-all kid and he gets the job done,” Adkins said. “He’s like a utility player in baseball.
“He works so hard and is grateful to be in that role. If any of those five (starting linemen) go down, he is going in because of how much trust we have in him.
“He’s having a great senior year.”
The Bulldogs averaged 5.4 yards per running play for the game with five backs having gains of at least 10 yards: Gavin Hammerschmidt (39 yards), Brock VanDeveer (18 yards), Ashby (12 yards), Wade Manuel (12 yards) and Dyer (10 yards).
VanDeveer finished with a career-high 61 yards rushing and scored two touchdowns.
M-S took the lead for good with 1:19 left in the opening quarter on a 4-yard run by Ashby.
Jackson Davis, who has now connected on 13 consecutive extra-point attempts, then converted the first of four in the game.
Davis was the Bulldogs’ Special Teams Player of the Week.
“Besides going 4-for-4 on PATs, he had a couple of touchbacks (on kickoffs) and when he kicked into the wind, had a popup onsides that we recovered (by Talon Decker),” Adkins said.
M-S was without one of its backfield options. Tristan Nilson was injured (knee) earlier in the week during a junior varsity game and his future status has not yet been resolved.
“We moved Wade Manuel to running back. He has speed and gives us a change of pace we need (from Ashby’s style of running),” Adkins said. “When we can change the pace, that keeps defenses on their toes.”
Manuel finished with a varsity high game of 36 yards rushing.
Ashby’s 100-yard rushing game was the second of the season for the junior and the third of his varsity career.
“His legs are always running hard and he’s hard to bring down,” Adkins said. “Probably 30 of his yards are because he falls forward.”
Taylorville reduced its 7-0 deficit to 7-6 with 3:45 left in the second quarter.
The Bulldogs weren’t content to go into the locker room at halftime with a slender one-point cushion. In the remaining minutes, they marched downfield and added another TD with five seconds left in the period on a 16-yard pass from Dyer to Owen Seymour in the corner of the end zone.
Dyer finished with 66 yards passing.
“That score was huge,” Adkins said. “That made it more comfortable than a 7-6 lead. It speaks volumes of the trust and confidence we have in Owen (who started the year on the junior varsity squad, but was promoted after Trey Peters suffered a season-ending injury).”
Seymour entered the game at Taylorville with one catch in varsity games, but hauled in three of Dyer’s six completions as well as scoring his first varsity TD. He had 41 receiving yards.
Taylorville reached the end zone just one time against a Bulldog defense that yielded 42 points in a Week 2 loss, but has allowed just one touchdown the past two games.
Part of that success is credited to the team’s offensive proficiency.
“We talked at halftime and our goal was to limit the amount of plays in the third period (when M-S was going into the wind),” Adkins said. “He huddled more and waited until the (play) clock was down to one second to snap the ball.
“Our defense was on the field just one time in the second half until the end (of the game).”
Ashby was called upon to carry the ball 30 times, the second time in three weeks he had at least 30 attempts in a game.
VanDeveer’s second TD came with 1:37 remaining in the game and lifted the Bulldogs into their final 28-6 advantage.
“Our time of possession the second half was incredible,” Adkins said. “That was our goal, but it’s not effective if you’re not getting first downs.”
The M-S Defensive Player of the Game was freshman noseguard Jayvon Tompkins, who had a career-high (and team-high) eight tackles, six of which were solos
“Ethan (Esker) and Noah (Frank) had sacks or tackles for loss that were credited to Jayvon taking on double teams that allowed them to get in there,” Adkins said. “I’m proud of how Jayvon is understanding the varsity game.”
Other defensive leaders were Frank (seven tackles), Beau Back (five tackles), Henry Wagner (five tackles), Esker (three tackles) and VanDeveer (three tackles).
Decker and Brayden Garrett each intercepted a pass.
M-S (5-0 and ranked 10th in Class 5A last week) returns to action on Friday (Oct. 4) at Mount Zion (4-1), which had been ranked seventh in Class 4A before sustaining a 35-20 loss last week at previously winless Mattoon.
Adkins anticipates a battle in what will be the Braves’ homecoming game.
“Year in and year out, we are two of the top teams in the conference,” Adkins said. “They have four or five good receivers, including two with Division I talent (Illinois commit senior Brayden Trimble and junior J.C. Anderson, who has 35 scholarship offers, including one from the Illini).
“They will have athletes all over the field, but we are excited to take what we have into their place,” Adkins said. “We are excited for the opportunity to compete for another conference championship.”
M-S has won three consecutive outright Apollo Conference titles in football.
