DOWNS — Maroa-Forsyth junior Jack Hockaday lowered his head and put his hands on his helmet as he lined up for the postgame handshake after Saturday’s Class 1A semifinal game.
After the handshake, he took his helmet off and slammed his head into it.
There was no “happy to make it to the semifinals” for the Trojans. Not any more. Not when they’ve been there five years in a row, won a state title last year and expected to win it again this year. The only thing Maroa players felt after their 14-6 loss to Downs Tri-Valley was crippling disappointment.
“This is the worst I’ve ever felt after a loss in my life,” Maroa senior Clayton Zilz said.
What no one at Downs could feel after the game was their fingers and toes. A cold, 23 mph wind was just enough to disrupt Maroa’s passing game — Hockaday was 7-of-13 for 23 yards. He had no comment after the game. Zilz said the Trojans just couldn’t find anything that was working.
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“We couldn’t throw the ball very well in this weather,” Zilz said. “We had a couple things going, but we didn’t take care of the ball. That will cost you the game.”
The couple things Maroa (12-1) did have going were in the running game. But poorly timed fumbles by Chad Howell and Justin Mikeworth stopped two promising Maroa drives. And by the fourth quarter, Tri-Valley had closed any gaps the Trojans had previously exploited with a quick line that Maroa struggled to sustain blocks against. The Trojans finished with just 171 total yards of offense.
“Our quickness on the line has given everyone trouble all year,” Tri-Valley coach Josh Roop said. “We just tried to keep it simple and play fast. Against a team as multiple as Maroa, that’s what you have to do.”
The Trojans led 6-0 at half, going on a 13-play drive at the end of the first quarter that finished in a 6-yard Mikeworth touchdown run.
Neither team scored again until, following Mikeworth’s fumble in the third quarter, Tri-Valley started a drive on Maroa’s 27 and scored on a 13-yard option keeper by Peyton Roop to go ahead 7-6 with 1:33 left in the third.
After stopping a Hockaday run on a fourth-and-1 at the Tri-Valley 42 with 9:37 left, the Vikings put the game away with a 13-play drive that took 6:30 off the clock. Braden Hermann finished thedrive with a 7-yard TD run to give Tri-Valley a 14-6 lead.
Maroa’s defense did well against Tri-Valley’s offense most of the game, but Tri-Valley began to break through in the second half. The Vikings (13-0) finished with 229 yards on 57 carries.
“It was hard to find the ball against them,” Zilz said. “They’re a good football team.”
Hermann said the Vikings found some holes in the Maroa defense it didn’t in the first half.
“We made some adjustments at halftime based on the way they were lined up,” Hermann said. “But more than the adjustments, we just played better and executed better.”
Maroa had one more shot with 2:46 left. The Trojans picked up a first down on a 13-yard pass to Drew Fredericksen. But facing a fourth-and-10, Hockaday threw just his second interception of the season to seal the win for Tri-Valley.
Justin’s take
Weather report
At the start of the game, it was 23 degrees with a wind chill of 7 degrees. And it got colder.
Jostes said it was the coldest game he’s ever coached in. Zilz said he didn’t notice the cold so much while he was playing.
But Josh Roop said the weather was a distinct advantage for Tri-Valley.
“Our offense is built for this time of year,” Roop said. “You can come out and throw it all over, but this time of year in Illinois, this is the weather you’re going to get.”
Playing keep-away
One of the reasons Maroa’s offense couldn’t get rolling was the fact Tri-Valley had the ball much of the second half.
Maroa had the wind at its back in the third quarter, but ran just two offensive plays in that 12-minute span. Tri-Valley began the quarter with a 15-play drive that stalled at the Maroa 17. Maroa took over with 4:35 left and, wanting to exploit the trap play that had worked for big yardage in the second quarter, ran Mikeworth twice. His second run was the fumble, and Tri-Valley scored five plays later.
Maroa would have had the ball with 1:33 left in the quarter, but Tri-Valley got the ball back when Maroa fumbled a squib on the ensuing kickoff.
For the game, Tri-Valley had the ball for 31:48. Maroa had it for 16:12.
“The game went really fast,” Jostes said. “They were in no hurry. And, obviously, the weather wasn’t ideal for our offense. It was all the things we don’t want.”
What happened?
Jostes will spend the offseason trying to figure out why his team wasn’t the same in the playoffs as it had been in dominating performances against quality teams like Tolono Unity and Argenta-Oreana in the regular season.
Hockaday wasn’t the same after suffering an ankle injury in Week 8 — that played a role both physically for Hockaday and mentally for the rest of the team.
Wind was also an issue, especially for a team that wasn’t built for a power running game — and especially without a true No. 1 running back after Jordan Bond was forced to miss the season. Fumbles were a problem the entire playoffs, starting with the Tuscola game.
Burst bubble
A staple of Maroa’s offense — the bubble screen — was shut down for the second straight week by the opponents’ defense. Maroa tried it several times to Zilz, who finished with just six catches for just 11 yards.
“That was something we looked at a lot this week in our game plan,” Herrman said. “We didn’t want quick outs in the flat, so we rallied to that really well.”
Taking it personally
Jostes is known for holding coaches accountable for their responsibility, and he took full blame for this one.
“Jon Kidd our defensive coordinator did an outstanding job — any time you hold a team to 14 points, you did your job,” Jostes said. “But the offense didn’t do its job. I call the offense, so it’s my fault.”
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