Mahomet-Seymour Football ends season with loss to Unity
By FRED KRONER
For the second week in a row, Cole Hubble returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, but for the third time this season, Mahomet-Seymour’s football team suffered a loss against a state-ranked opponent.
On Friday (April 16), eighth-ranked Tolono Unity (Class 3A) dealt the visiting Bulldogs a 25-19 loss.
“It’s not like those losses were bad losses,” M-S coach Jon Adkins said. “We were in these games and if a couple things had gone different, it could have been a different outcome.”
Senior Braden Finch passed for a season-high 196 yards for M-S, connecting on 16 of 24 attempts against the Rockets. For the third game in a row, he did not throw an interception.
Finch rushed for one touchdown and passed to Dream Morgan-Eagle for another TD.
Morgan-Eagle and Clay Hubble each had 56 receiving yards.
The Bulldogs generated only 61 rushing yards on 21 attempts.
“They did a good job preparing for us and taking that away,” Adkins said, “and when you’re playing from behind the majority of the game, that kind of dictates or limits what you can do.
“We opened things up more and completed almost 70 percent of our passes. We did a good job of adapting to what they were going to give us.”
Seven different Bulldogs had pass receptions. Four backs carried the ball from scrimmage.
“You’d have thought we had two separate offenses from the way we subbed,” Adkins said. “We’re getting a bunch of kids reps.
“It’s good to get young kids some playing time.”
Defensively, Nick Golden had 10 tackles, his third game in double figures this season. Gage Granadino had nine tackles, Zach Travis had eight tackles, Luke Johnson had seven tackles and Mateo Casillas had four stops.
Quenton Rogers had an interception.
Adkins didn’t like the outcome against Unity, but the other aspects were fine.
“Our kids played hard, it was a fun atmosphere,” Adkins said. “I certainly wish we could play Unity every year, but I know it’s probably never going to happen again.”
M-S (2-3) closes out its abbreviated season at home on Friday (April 26) against Taylorville, an opponent the Bulldogs have not beaten since joining the Apollo Conference.
“It’s Senior Night on Friday,” Adkins said. “I’ll tell them, ‘This is your challenge. Be the first class to beat Taylorville.’”
Taylorville, whose program was on pause for two weeks due to COVID-19, returned to action last Saturday for its first game since March 26. The Tornadoes have a 1-2 season record.
